Following the announcements yesterday in relation to the Working Time Directive which we commented on here, the government has made some further announcements which will affect employers.
Firstly they have announced further changes to the Working Time Regulations on top of the already announced plans to change record keeping requirements. This includes merging ‘normal’ holiday with ‘additional’ holiday to create one entitlement. They also intend to permit rolled up holiday pay, which was made technically unlawful a number of years ago but which is still widely practised.
They also intend on making changes to TUPE. Currently if a business has fewer than 10 employees it is exempt from the requirement to inform and consult with staff representatives. This threshold will be increased to businesses of 50 staff where fewer than 10 employees will transfer. In practice this is likely to have limited consequences as it would only be relevant to transfers of part of a business with 9 or fewer employees in that part.
The Government has also announced that it is abandoning it’s general plan to operate a ‘sunset clause’ on all EU legislation not specifically retained. Instead it has now published a list of laws it intends to repeal on 31 December 2023 which includes;
• The Community Drivers’ Hours and Working Time (Road Tankers) (Temporary Exception) (Amendment) Regulations 2006
• The Posted Workers (Enforcement of Employment Rights) Regulations 2016
• The Posted Workers (Agency Workers) Regulations 2020
These are not particularly earth shattering changes to employment law and are unlikely to make much difference to the majority of employers. We will have to see if the Government makes any further changes.
If you have any queries relating to these changes or the effect on employment law of the UK leaving the EU please do contact our Employment Team on 0345 646 0406 or fill in our online enquiry form and a member of our Team will be in touch.