Earlier this week we described how the government is set to announce their bill on increased employee rights later this month, with changes they describe as “the biggest reforms to workers’ rights in a generation”.
This is a flagship Labour policy that is being spearheaded by the deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner.
In addition to the changes to flexible working requests explained in our last post they are also proposing the following:
Unfair dismissal protection from day one of employment. At present employees can only claim unfair dismissal if they have two years’ service. Whereas 2 years is probably a bit much, this change opens the doors to a big increase in claims.
Recruitment is not an exact science and even the most robust processes are often unreliable. It is not unusual to inadvertently take on an unsuitable candidate or to be hoodwinked in the recruitment process into believing you are recruiting a star, only to find the opposite is true.
Heck, we appointed Liz Truss as prime minister after a recruitment process for goodness sake!
So called ‘fire and rehire’ practices will be outlawed in the legislation. Most people will agree with this change I suspect due to some awful high-profile examples in recent years, and it is right that those more extreme cases will be prevented. But in some circumstances ‘fire and rehire’ can be a godsend for both the employer and employees.
Take the many organisations that fall on hard times each year and cannot afford to continue as they are – this practice enables the employer to keep on trading, hopefully recovering, and keeping people in jobs and earning more than the alternative, rather than making everyone redundant which will now be the only option for many.
And if you think that view is a little naïve, don’t forget that for those who feel aggrieved at being ‘fired and rehired’ and do not wish to remain at the employer on less favourable terms it is pretty much a slam dunk unfair dismissal case so they would likely receive compensation of at least as much as they would had they been made redundant.
Removing ‘unnecessary’ restrictions on trade unions, including the previous administration’s law that during strikes, a minimum level of service can be insisted on in certain sectors such as emergency services and public transport (although for some reason, bizarrely, after legislating for it the Conservative government didn’t seem to want to use this power when the country was crippled by strikes in recent times!).
Clearly protection is needed against unscrupulous employers. But in our experience they are rare and most organisations treat their workforce fairly. We do not believe the country needs such a shift towards weaker employer rights and increased union powers, especially at such a fragile time in the growth cycle of our economy.
The government has this week promised to listen and take account of employers’ views regarding the changes throughout the process. Let’s hope they do!
It is so difficult for small and medium sized employers to keep up with changes such as these. At 186hr we specialise in supporting SMEs, and with our Monthly HR Support Package, a high quality low cost product, we do most of the HR work for you, leaving you to concentrate on what you do best. Please Contact us for more details about the product, or with any other HR queries you may have.