Employment Law Update

Pursuit Resources Group work closely with KLC Employment Law Consultants to provide clients with access to Employment Law advisory services as part of our added value. They regularly update us with important Employment Law updates. We, in turn, like to pass onto our clients and other Human Resources professionals within our network. We have put together some updates from their latest newsletter.

Did you know we have launching our next Employment Law Update Seminar with Cas Carrington on Thursday 21st March 2019. Our annual Seminar’s are hugely popular with our clients and places are extremely limited. If you would like to register your interest for the event please visit our website.

Employment Law Code of practice on dealing with workplace sexual harassment

In December the Government stated its intention to introduce a new statutory code of practice on dealing with workplace sexual harassment, which would include what actions employers need to take to prevent it and how staff can report it.

The code, which will be developed by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, was among a package of 12 measures designed to tackle sexual harassment at work.  They included consultations on:

  • Strengthening the law with regard to non-disclosure agreements
  • introducing a new legal duty for employers to prevent sexual harassment (including from third parties)
  • protecting interns and volunteers from all forms of discrimination
  • extending the three-month time limit for bringing a discrimination claim.

The Good Work Plan

In December the Government also published their long awaited response to the Taylor Report.  The Good Work Plan sets out a number of proposals (none of them earth-shattering) in response to the Taylor review, including:

  • Extending the right to a written statement of terms and conditions of employment to workers as well as employees and making this something employers must give on the first day of work.
  • Changing the rules on continuity of employment so that a break of over four weeks (rather than the current one week) is required to break continuity.
  • Abolishing the Swedish derogation which currently gives employers the ability to pay agency workers less than their own employees in certain circumstances.
  • Introducing a right for workers to request a more predictable and stable working pattern.
  • Increasing the penalty for an employer’s aggravating conduct from £5,000 to £20,000. This penalty may be levied where an employer loses an ET claim, but is hardly ever applied.
  • A ban on employers making deductions from workers’ tips.

The Government has said it will “bring forward detailed proposals” on clarifying employment status so that the frameworks for the purposes of employment rights and tax are aligned.  Apparently independent research has been commissioned on this so nothing detailed is expected soon.   The Government has already issued three statutory instruments to begin to implement these plans although most of the changes don’t take effect until April 2020 so we’ll remind you closer to the time.

 

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Join us for our next Employment Law Update Seminar with Cas Carrington on Thursday 21st March 2019. Our annual Seminar’s are hugely popular with our clients and places are extremely limited.

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