Employment Law - Looking ahead to 2011

With 2011 now in full swing, Encore Personnel have sourced a number of Employment Law updates for you to look out for this year and what you can do to prepare for them.

Agency Workers Regulations 2010

The Agency Workers Regulations are due to come into force on 1 October 2011 and will apply to workers who find temporary work through a temporary work agency. The Regulations will introduce new rights for agency workers including the right to receive the same pay and other basic working conditions as equivalent permanent staff after a 12-week qualifying period. Much has been written about the anticipated consequences of the Regulations on the UK recruitment agency market which, it is estimated, employs around 1.3 to 1.5 million agency workers at any one time and has an annual turnover of around £29.3 billion. Encore Personnel have a suite of tools to assist companies prior to implementation – click here for more information

No more default retirement age

You will no doubt be aware that the Government is planning to abolish the default retirement age (DRA) of 65 in October 2011. Given that employers currently must give an employee notice of 6 to12 months prior to their intended retirement date, April 2011 is the latest that employers can attempt to rely on the DRA. Once the DRA is abolished, employers will have a choice of either letting people work indefinitely until they resign or are dismissed, or deciding on a normal retirement age which they will have to justify as achieving a legitimate aim for their business on a proportionate basis. They will no longer simply be able to retire someone because they are 65. Recent cases have highlighted potential legitimate aims such as allowing other employees the chance to progress, facilitating planning within the workforce, and limiting the need to dismiss employees by way of performance management. If you have any concerns over any aspect of the abolition of the DRA please do not hesitate to contact us.

Equality Act 2010

Next year will hopefully see some clarification on some of the more ambiguous aspects of the Equality Act. The Act introduced new claims such as discrimination by association, so the New Year may bring some test cases that help to interpret the meaning of these new provisions. Employment lawyers will also be hoping that an apparent drafting error, that seems to prohibit an employee’s solicitor from signing off a compromise agreement if they have assisted in negotiating the agreement, will be resolved. Currently there is a theoretical risk that the agreement may be invalid if an adviser acting for an individual signs off a compromise agreement.

Increased rights for families

The Additional Paternity Leave Regulations, which will apply to parents of children due to be born or placed for adoption from 3 April 2011, will allow eligible employees (usually fathers) to take up to 26 weeks' additional paternity leave if the mother has returned to work with some of her statutory maternity/adoption leave untaken. Employers may need to consider updating their maternity, paternity and adoption policies in light of the impending changes, as well as considering whether any enhanced benefits available to women on additional maternity leave will apply to men to avoid sex discrimination claims. Employers may also need to plan for the changes to the right to request flexible working. The right will be extended to parents of children under 18 years old from April 2011, as part of the Government’s plans to make society more ‘family friendly’.

Immigration caps

From April 2011, the temporary restrictions on migrant workers from outside Europe are set to become permanent. There has been substantial criticism of the temporary immigration cap, as critics argue that the reduced number of migrant workers coming to the UK has exposed the country's skills gap, particularly in the care, logistics and manufacturing sectors. A recent survey has found that a third of recruitment agencies has already seen a 25% drop in overseas staff looking for permanent and temporary work, so it will be interesting to see what effect the restrictions will have over the coming months.

And finally…the Royal Wedding

Set to take place on 29 April 2011, this event could give rise to more serious questions than what the bride’s dress will look like. The date will be a public holiday, and with Easter Monday falling on 25 April next year this means a three day working week for most businesses. Employers will need to consider whether the additional public holiday will be taken out of employees’ annual holiday entitlement or not (if for example an employee’s entitlement is 28 days inclusive of bank holidays). In addition, for many businesses, yearend will fall on the last working day of April, so employers will therefore need to consider whether to allow staff to take holiday during the remaining three days of that week.

Source Cobbetts