As a business owner or manager, it’s crucial to stay current with the latest rules and regulations on workers’ rights and entitlements. With this in mind, we outline the fundamental employment law changes currently in force and those due to take effect later in 2024.
1. Flexible working
One of the most notable employment law changes effective from 6 April 2024 is the right to make a flexible working request from the first day of a job. Previously, employees had to serve a minimum of 26 weeks before they could make any such request.
Additionally, new measures introduced in the Employment Rights (Flexible Working) Act 2023 mean that:
- employees can make two flexible working requests in any 12 month period
- the deadline for an employer to respond to any such request has been cut from 3 months to 2 months
- employers must consult with their employees before rejecting any flexible working requests
- employees are no longer required to explain what effect, if any, their flexible working request may have on the business and how to overcome any such impact
Employers must manage requests in a reasonable manner. They can only reject a flexible working request for one of the following 8 business reasons, as set out in the Employment Rights Act 1996:
- The burden of extra costs will damage the business
- It is not possible to reorganise the work among other staff
- An inability to recruit additional employees to do the work
- The arrangement will have a detrimental impact on quality
- Flexible working will have a detrimental impact on performance
- The business won’t be able to meet customer demand
- There is insufficient work available during the periods proposed by the employee
- The employer is planning structural changes to the business
If the employer rejects a request for flexible working, they must notify the employee in writing and explain the business reason for their decision.
Where the employer agrees to the request (or a modified arrangement), they must write to the employee with a statement of the agreed changes and a start date for the new flexible working arrangement.
Detailed guidance is available in the Acas Code of Practice on flexible working requests.
2. Holiday pay and entitlement
For leave (holiday) years starting on or after 1 April 2024, the Government has introduced the following reforms for irregular-hours and part-year workers:
- a new accrual method of calculating statutory holiday entitlement based on 12.07% of actual hours worked in a pay period
- rolled-up holiday pay as an alternative method of calculating holiday pay
- a new method to work out how much leave an irregular-hours or part-year worker has accrued when they take maternity or family-related leave or they are off sick
The Working Time Regulations 1998 (Section 15F) defines irregular hours and part-year workers as follows:
- a worker is an irregular hours worker, in relation to a leave year, if the number of paid hours that they will work in each pay period during the term of their contract in that year is, under the terms of their contract, wholly or mostly variable;
- a worker is a part-year worker, in relation to a leave year, if, under the terms of their contract, they are required to work only part of that year, and there are periods within that year (during the term of the contract) of at least a week which they are not required to work and for which they are not paid.
The new regulations also allow workers to carry over their unused holiday entitlement into the following leave year, if they can’t take some or all of their leave because they are sick or on family-related leave.
Similarly, they can carry over unused leave entitlement if:
- their employer didn’t provide the ‘rolled-up holiday pay’ the worker was entitled to receive
- the worker wasn’t given reasonable opportunity to take their leave
- they weren’t told that they would lose their holiday entitlement if they didn’t take it by the end of the leave year
Further guidance on holiday pay and entitlement reforms is available at GOV.UK
3. Protection from redundancy during parental leave
As of 6 April 2024, the priority status of legal protection from redundancy has been extended to include pregnant employees, rather than only those on maternity, adoption, or shared parental leave.
One of several employment law changes impacting parents, pregnant employees are now protected from the moment they notify their employer about their pregnancy until 18 months after the child’s date of birth. It also extends to 18 months for employees taking adoption leave or at least 6 weeks of shared parental leave.
This special protection means that employers must give first refusal of other vacancies to such individuals if their role is made redundant. However, where no appropriate vacancy is available, they may still be made redundant.
These measures were introduced by the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023, and the Maternity Leave, Adoption Leave and Shared Parental Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024.
4. Paternity leave
The Government has introduced greater flexibility for those taking Statutory Paternity Leave from 6 April 2024. Under the Paternity Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024, eligible employees:
- can take their 2 weeks of Statutory Paternity Leave consecutively or at different times
- may take their leave at any time within the first year after the child’s birth (or due date, if the baby is early). The rules on start and end dates are slightly different for those who adopt
- need only give 28 days’ notice to change the start date of their leave
There are no changes to eligibility rules. Detailed guidance on Statutory Paternity Leave is available at GOV.UK
5. Carer’s leave
From 6 April 2024, any employee who cares for a dependent with long-term care needs has the right to take statutory carer’s leave. There is no qualifying period – this entitlement is available to employees from their first day on the job.
Introduced by the Carer’s Leave Act 2023 and Carer’s Leave Regulations 2024, eligible employees can take one week of unpaid carer’s leave every 12 months to provide or arrange care for any dependent who has:
- a physical or mental illness or injury that means they are expected to require care for more than 3 months
- a disability as defined in the Equality Act 2010
- care needs due to old age
A ‘dependent’ does not have to be a family member. It refers to any person who relies on the employee for care. This is separate to unpaid parental leave.
Employees can choose to take their unpaid carer’s leave as a whole week at once, or they can take individual days or half days off throughout the year.
A ‘week’ refers to the length of time an employee usually works over a 7-day period. For example, if they normally work 3 days per week, they can take 3 days of unpaid carer’s leave every 12 months.
Required notice period
Depending on how many days they want to take off, the worker must give the following minimum notice to their employer before their leave starts:
- Half a day or 1 day of leave – at least 3 days’ notice
- 1.5 to 2 days – 4 days’ notice
- 2.5 to 3 days – 6 days’ notice
- 3.5 to 4 days – 8 days’ notice
- 4.5 to 5 days – 10 days’ notice
- 6 days (if the employee works 6 days a week) – 12 days’ notice
The worker’s employment rights are protected during their carer’s leave. This includes holidays and their right to return to their job.
More information on unpaid carer’s leave is available at GOV.UK
6. Dismissal and re-engagement
To tackle controversial dismissal tactics and protect workers’ rights, the UK Government plans to introduce its first Statutory Code of Practice on ‘Dismissal and Re-engagement’ practices. Due to take effect from July 2024, this will apply to businesses in England, Scotland, and Wales.
More commonly known as ‘fire and rehire’, dismissal and re-engagement refers to when a business fires an employee and then offers them a new contract on different terms, which is often less favourable to the worker.
Designed to crack down on instances of employers mistreating their employees, the new Code of Practice sets out how businesses must behave when seeking to change the existing terms and conditions in an employee’s contract.
Under the new rules, employers must also explore alternative options to fire and rehire, refrain from using threats of dismissal to pressurise workers into accepting new terms, and engage in early and meaningful discussions with workers or trade unions to reach an agreed outcome.
Any business considering fire and rehire as a last resort must contact the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) for advice before raising any such prospect with its employees.
7. Predictable working patterns
Expected to come into force around September 2024, new measures in the Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023 will provide workers on zero-hours contracts and other atypical working patterns with the right to request more predictable working patterns.
To be eligible, the worker must meet the following criteria:
- they have been in employment/service for at least 26 weeks
- there is a lack of predictability regarding any part of their working pattern – for example, if they are on a zero-hours contract with no guaranteed of a minimum number of hours
- their request relates to a change in work pattern, such as the number of hours they work, the days of the week or the times they work, and the length of their contract
- the purpose of making the request is to achieve a more predictable work pattern
- the worker has made no more than two applications or requests in the last year
If a worker makes an application for flexible working and it would have the same effect in providing a more predictable working pattern, this would also count towards their permitted two applications per year.
Employers can reject a worker’s request on the same statutory grounds applicable to flexible working applications, including the burden of additional costs on the business.
Acas has published a draft Code of Practice on handling requests for a predictable working pattern. This is designed to help employers implement new procedures and ensure compliance.
8. Distribution of tips
To promote fairness and transparency, the government will introduce a new Code of Practice on the distribution of tips, gratuities, and service charges. This will have legal effect under the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023.
These changes, which are due to come into force on 1 October 2024 (delayed from the original implementation date of 1 July), mean that employers must:
- pass on all tips (including gratuities and service charges) to their workers without any deductions, except under very limited circumstances (e.g. deducting Income Tax)
- distribute all tips in a fair and transparent manner, taking control, or exerting significant influence, over their distribution
- take into account the code of practice on fairness and transparency of tip distribution when they distribute or influence the distribution of tips
- maintain a written policy on how they deal with tips at their place of business, and make this policy available to all workers
- maintain a record of all tips paid at their place of business and their allocation and distribution between each worker, to which workers have the right to request access
In situations where an employer receives workers’ tips directly (e.g. when a customer pays by card), they must distribute the tips as part of the next payroll cycle.
These new measures will apply to all industries in England, Scotland, and Wales. Employment policy in Northern Ireland is a devolved matter.
9. Preventing sexual harassment at work
Under the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023, employers will have a new statutory duty to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment at work by any perpetrator, including third parties such as customers, clients, and members of the public.
Employment tribunals will also have the power to increase compensation to claimants by up to 25%, if they find that an employer has breached this preventative duty.
To prevent and tackle sexual harassment in workplaces, employers must be proactive and systematic in their approach. They will need to show evidence of the reasonable steps they have taken.
Whilst we await official guidance on what these ‘reasonable steps’ will be, the CIPD’s guidance recommends that employers focus their attention on several priority areas, including:
- organisational and cultural change
- policies and procedures
- training and development
- reporting channels and investigating
- people management capability
- monitoring and review
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has also indicated that it will publish updated guidance in September ahead of these legislative reforms, which are due to come into force on 27 October 2024.
10. Neonatal care leave and pay (expected early 2025)
Due to take effect in April 2025, the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023 makes provision for employees with responsibility for babies receiving neonatal care after birth.
This new legislation means that parents will have the right to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave from work, in addition to their other leave entitlements such as maternity, paternity, or shared parental leave.
Neonatal care leave will be a day one right, which means that employees will be entitled to this leave from their first day in a new job. It will apply to parents of babies admitted to hospital up to the age of 28 days, and who spend at least 7 consecutive days in hospital.
To qualify for neonatal care pay, the individual must be employed for at least 26 weeks before the leave is requested, with normal earnings of at least £123 per week (the Lower Earnings Limit). Furthermore, they must take the leave within 68 weeks of the child’s birth.
Full guidance on neonatal care leave and pay will be available in due course. Thereafter, employers will need to update their family leave and pay policies accordingly.
Thanks for reading
2024 is a year of several major employment law changes, many of which are now in effect. Whether you’re an employer, manager, or HR professional, staying abreast of these reforms is vital to ensure continued compliance.
If you have any questions about employment law or workplace issues, you can contact the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) helpline for confidential, free advice.
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