Further to our recent article on the changes proposed to the employment law landscape set out in the Employment Bill (“the Bill”) further amendments to the Bill have been announced on 4 March 2025.
The amendments to the Bill tabled by the Government were arrived at following weeks of widespread consultation on the proposals set out within the original Bill.
The amendments include:
- Collective Redundancy – the Government will increase the protective award that employers face for failures to comply with their consultation obligations when planning to dismiss 20 more employees. The increase proposed is from a maximum award of 90 days to 180 days. A further amendment is also intended to ensure that the threshold on the number of dismissals considered for this purpose will not include those dismissals where the reason(s) for it are not redundancy related.
- Protection for Agency Workers working under Zero Hour Contracts – the Government is intending to ensure that the protections for zero hour workers already contained in the Bill are extended to include agency workers. This is intended to prevent a loophole existing to the detriment of agency workers. We understand that responsibility for ensuring agency workers receive reasonable notice of shifts, cancelations or curtailments of their working hours will lie with the relevant agency.
- Trade Union Legislation – wider changes with the stated aim of creating a modern framework for Industrial Relations. These changes proposed include:
- increased fines if a union’s right of access is not allowed or if its right of access is breached;
- the introduction of e-balloting;
- the introduction of anti-avoidance measures to prevent employers from distorting the bargaining unit during a recognition process;
- the provision of a 20 working day period for employers and unions to agree an access agreement after which a standard one may be imposed by the Central Arbitration Committee;
- the simplification of the notice arrangements required before strike action can be taken; and
- an increase from 6 months to 12 months for a union’s mandate to carry out industrial action.
- Measures to Prevent the Misuse of Umbrella Companies – the Government intends to ensure that workers can access comparable rights and protections when working through an umbrella company as they would obtain when working directly for a recruitment agency.
- Fair Work Agency – confirmation that the proposed Fair Work Agency will have a real enforcement role going forward. The Agency will:
- be able to enforce holiday pay and place a financial penalty on employers who fail to do meet their requirements;
- be able to take action to enforce the requirement on employers to keep adequate records on holiday pay within their organisations;
- be able to bring proceedings in the Employment Tribunal against rogue employers; and
- have the power to investigate serious cases of labor breaches which are not at the level of obtaining protection under Modern Slavery legislation.
- Maternity Protections - Confirmation that the Government may define by secondary legislation, further protections against the dismissal of women following their return to work from maternity leave.
Consultation on the changes proposed within the Bill to the unfair dismissal rules and the introduction of a “statutory” probationary period will continue.
If you would like to discuss the potential impact of these changes and/or the wider Bill please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us here at FMGS.
