In 2014 a number of changes to employment law come into force. Here, Amanda Pullinger, Head of Employment and Aaron Heslop, Solicitor with Rooks Rider Solicitors LLP, offer their guidance to what employers can expect.

January

TUPE reforms

With effect from 31 January 2014 there have been several important changes to the regulations relating to protection of employees’ employment rights on the transfer of a business (or a change in the provision of services by a service provider). Perhaps the most relevant change is that a change of location may no longer trigger an automatic unfair dismissal. In addition, the time limit for a transferor to provide information about their employees to a transferee has been increased from 14 days prior to the transfer to 28 days.

March

Consultation on zero hours contracts

Seasonal businesses and businesses where the work flow is variable will frequently engage casual workers to cope with changes in demand. One of the ways a casual worker can be engaged is on a 'zero hours contract', under which the employer is not obliged to provide a minimum amount of work, but the worker is obliged to be available for any work when offered. Due to an increase in the use of these contracts and the lack of rights these workers have, the government has launched a consultation on their continued use. Therefore, there may be changes in the law relating to zero hours contracts over the next year.

April

Pensions change

All UK employers must automatically enrol eligible workers into a pension scheme and make mandatory minimum contributions. The date from which an employer has to auto enrol its workers (called their ‘staging date’) depends on the number of employees they have. At an employer’s staging date, they currently have a period of one month to put the necessary arrangements in place. However, from 1 April 2014 the joining window is being extended to six weeks to give employers more time to achieve active membership.

Extension of right to request flexible working

The right to request flexible working will be extended to all employees with not less than 26 weeks’ service, not just those with caring responsibilities. The statutory process for considering requests is to be replaced with a duty to deal with requests in a ‘reasonable manner’. 

Mandatory pre-claim conciliation

As part of the government’s plans to make the tribunal system more efficient, employees will have to submit potential claims to ACAS before they can issue them at the employment tribunal. Employees and their employers will be offered the opportunity for pre-claim conciliation with ACAS officers for a period of one month. The period of pre-claim conciliation stops the time limit for claims to be submitted.

Abolition of discrimination questionnaires

The process by which employees are currently able to serve detailed discrimination questionnaires on their employers (or former employers) will be abolished. Therefore, there will be no formal process for requesting specific information prior to initiating a discrimination claim. This will be a relief to employers who have found the statutory questionnaire procedure intimidating, time consuming and intrusive. There will be no procedure enabling employees to seek discrimination information from their employers prior to the issue of a discrimination claim.

Employer fines

Fines of up to £5,000 will be introduced, payable to the Secretary of State, if an employer loses an employment tribunal claim and the employer’s conduct has ‘aggravating features'. There is no definition in the legislation of what will amount to ‘aggravating features’. There is a 50% discount for prompt payment within 21 days.

During 2014

Introduction of compulsory equal pay audits

If an employer loses an equal pay claim, the employment tribunal will have the power to order a compulsory equal pay audit of that employer.

New approach to managing sickness absence introduced

The Health and Work Service is to be introduced, offering free occupational health assistance to employees, employers and GPs, including an independent assessment of employees who have been off sick for four weeks or more. The government has indicated that the new service may be delivered in spring 2014, but there is no confirmed date as yet.

If you would like more information on the above changes, or any related matter, please contact a member of Rooks Rider Solicitors’ Employment team. www.rooksrider.co.uk

 

Amanda Pullinger – Head of Employment

Tel: 020 7689 7180

Email: apullinger@rooksrider.co.uk 

Amanda has extensive experience in employment law, acting for claimants and defendants including employment tribunal claims involving unfair dismissal, discrimination (age, sex, race, religion, sexuality, etc.), equal pay, unlawful deduction of wages, breach of Working Time Regulations, breach of Transfer of Undertaking Regulations), and claims relating to service agreements, breaches of contracts and restrictive covenants

 

Aaron Heslop – Solicitor

Email: aheslop@rooksrider.co.uk 

Aaron is an assistant in the employment and dispute resolution department and has experience of both employment disputes and non-contentious employment work.