Bosses have been told employment rights currently going through Parliament are the ‘most radical changes in a generation’.
In an update on the changes at ABTA’s Travel Law event on Monday (12 May), an expert warned the changes included taking all reasonable steps to ensure staff safety at overseas events, and ‘getting recruitment right’.
DMH Stallard Partner Rebecca Thornley-Gibson told delegates that changes to the Employment Rights Bill (ERB), which is currently at the committee stage in the House of Lords, are the ‘most radical changes in a generation’.
The amendments to the ERB aim to strengthen employee protections and modernise employment law in the UK by introducing 28 specific major changes.
One of the proposed amendments introduces a ‘day-one’ right for unfair dismissal, meaning employees can claim unfair dismissal from their first day of employment, rather than the current two-year qualifying period
The bill proposes to introduce an initial period of employment, likely to be nine months, where employers can adopt a simplified dismissal process if they are dissatisfied with an employee.
Rebecca said: “This will create a lot of due diligence in the recruitment process, and getting recruitment right is going to be particularly important.
“There will be a lot more management training. Managers will need to be aware that they can’t call someone into a meeting on a Friday to say ‘it isn’t working out’.”
The ERB also aims to provide a right to guaranteed hours for those on zero-hour contracts, shifting zero-hour contracts to low hours for qualified workers.
“We don’t know what low hours mean, but a betting person would say four hours per week,” said Rebecca.
Employers will work out the hours after qualified workers have completed a defined reference period, likely to be 12 weeks.
According to Rebecca, the travel industry is lobbying for longer than 12 weeks for a defined reference period.
Meanwhile, under ‘fire and rehire’ practices, dismissing employees for refusing changes to the terms of their contract will automatically be unfair
The ERB is also taking a tougher stance on sexual harassment, with employers soon to be required to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. Currently, employers are required to take reasonable steps.
Rebecca called the travel industry a ‘red flag’ as overseas events like conferences will be covered by the update.
The bill also proposes greater protection for pregnant people and maternity rights, and the tightening up of sickness absence policy.
It is thought that the amendments to the ERB will come into force at the end of 2026.
Main picture: Rebecca Thornley-Gibson
