For many years, the law has granted extra protection from redundancy to those on maternity, adoption, or shared parental leave. They are given preferential treatment and have the right of first refusal for any suitable alternative roles in a redundancy situation. The law is about to change. The Maternity Leave, Adoption Leave and Shared Parental Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024 come into force on 6th April 2024. What is changing? Pregnant employees do not currently share the protection those on maternity leave have. The extended protection  begins  from the point they inform t ..read more

Following a series of cases in the Supreme Court and in light of EU law no longer having supremacy over domestic legislation, the Government has taken the opportunity to try to simplify the UK’s domestic legislation relating to holiday entitlement by creating an entirely new system of holiday accrual and holiday pay for part-year and irregular hour workers. The changes to holiday accrual and pay for these workers take effect for holiday years commencing on or after 1 April 2024. The Government’s guidance on these changes can be found here. What are the changes? The Government’s amendments ..read more

If you win a discrimination claim, an Employment Tribunal can award you compensation for “injury to feelings” as well as for your financial losses such as income or pay you are owed. This means you receive compensation for the upset, hurt and distress the discrimination has caused you. How much will an  Employment Tribunal give you for injury to feelings? These figures change annually and have just been released for claims presented after 6th April 2024. Tribunals use guidelines called the Vento guidelines to decide how much they should award. The guidelines are split into three bands dep ..read more

The government has announced the changes to the National Minimum Wage and has confirmed the new rates for April 2024.  These are in line with the recommendations that were made by the Low Pay Commission. Current rate   From April 2024 Increase 23 years + £10.42 £11.44 9.7% 21-22 years £10.18 £11.44 12.4% 18-20 years £7.49 £8.60 14.8% Under 18 £5.28 £6.40 21.2% Apprentice Rate £5.28 £6.40 21.2%   Only those over the age of 23 are currently entitled to the National Living Wage, however, from the 1st April 2024, workers aged 21 and over will now be entitled to ..read more

Following the government’s announcement in the summer of 2023 to changes to paternity leave rights, it has now published further draft legislation in the form of the Paternity Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024. The Regulations make the following changes: Employees will be able to take their two-week paternity leave entitlement in two separate one-week blocks – rather than having to take the leave in one block. Employees will be able to take paternity leave at any time in the 52 weeks after birth. At present, the leave must be taken within 56 days of the child being born. Employees will ..read more

Does a grievance always need to be in writing? This was one of the questions the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) considered in the case of case of SPI Spirits (UK) Limited & Shefler v Zabelin [2023], and the EAT’s answer was no. What was the background? This case concerned an employee who was dismissed over the phone, after he made a protected disclosure (blew the whistle)  in a meeting a few days earlier. The Employment Tribunal found that the employee had been unfairly dismissed and decided to apply an uplift of 20%  to the compensation awarded – the employer unreasonably fail ..read more

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has released its annual analysis of UK workplace health and safety statistics, offering insights into both improvements and ongoing concerns. Key takeaways: 135 worker fatalities: While lower than European averages, this figure underscores the persistent danger faced by many workers. Positive trends: The UK boasts one of the lowest fatal injury rates in Europe, half the average and a fifth of France’s. Emerging challenges: New areas of focus include mental health impacts of work, musculoskeletal disorders, and the safety of lone workers. Industry spotlig ..read more

The Government has announced new rates of the National Living Wage and the National Minimum Wage which will come into force from April 2024. Importantly, the age threshold for National Living Wage will be lowered to 21 (it was 23) meaning more workers will be entitled to  the higher rate . Workers who are of school leaving age are entitled to get National Minimum Wage. From 1 April 2024, the new rates and applicable age brackets will be: £11.44 per hour for those aged 21 and over (up from £10.42); £8.60 per hour for those aged 18 – 20 (up from £7.49); and £6.40 per hour for tho ..read more

The Government has published draft legislation to amend the Equality Act 2010 with effect from 1 January 2024. The Equality Act 2010 (Amendment) Regulations 2023  brings together  protection from discrimination rights derived from EU law – which would otherwise have disappeared at the end of this year due to Brexit. Background to the amendments The law isn’t changing as such. Instead, the Equality Act is being rewritten to codify EU discrimination caselaw that tribunals, and higher courts, already factor into their decision-making processes. The amendments should make the written law ..read more

The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023, introduces a new positive duty on employers prevent sexual harassment of their staff in the course of their employment. The Act comes into force in October 2024 What has changed? There is a new duty to take “reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of – unwanted conduct of a “sexual nature” which has the purpose or effect of violating the individual’s dignity or which creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them. Although the law has primarily been introduced to protect women, i ..read more