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Described as "the biggest upgrade to workers' rights in a generation", the Employment Rights Bill, first published on 10 October 2024, lays out the Labour government's detailed plans for implementing its employment reforms. Whether you're an employee, an employer or just an aspiring solicitor interested in the legal world, read on to find out more about this bill and its return.

1) Restrictions on unfair dismissal 

As a result of this new bill, in theory all workers will now have unfair dismissal protection from day one of employment. This is a significant change from the current service requirement of a two year employment minimum before unfair dismissal protections can apply. However, this amendment will not take effect until 2027.

As it stands, it’s only unfair to dismiss an employee under the bill if an employer seeks to make a 'restricted variation' to their contract of employment – this is any change that either reduces pay, alters performance-based pay, affects pensions or reduces time off. Any other variation is allowed and so dismissal on that basis wouldn’t automatically be unfair.

The impact of this is that it has distilled the strictest safeguards onto the contractual changes most likely to be misused, for example the restricted variations mentioned above, which is likely to positively impact and protect the most vulnerable workers.

2) Changes to fire and rehire/replace policies 

Fire and rehire is a practice where an employer fires an employee and then offers to rehire them on new, typically less favourable, terms of employment – it’s a method of enacting changes to their contract of employment. Under the current bill, the government aims to bring an end to this practice. However they’ve softened this approach in their amendments to the bill.

Moreover, new amendments were introduced to prevent employers from replacing dismissed employees with non-employees, such as contractors.

3) Restrictions on NDAs

A new amendment to the bill will render non-disclosure agreements (NDA) void if they attempt to prevent a worker from making an allegation or disclosure about harassment or discrimination.

This restriction relates to allegations about direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and discrimination arising from disability; alongside covering disclosures about an employer's response to allegations of harassment or discrimination. It's possible that certain types of agreements may be excluded from such restrictions in future, there are no details about this as of yet.

Also, this signifies a move away from the use of NDAs as a means of securing confidentiality – a notable shift in employment practices. It’ll be interesting to see how employers and businesses balance the occasional need for discretion and confidentiality with these new regulations and whether NDAs will be outrightly replaced or simply refined by such adaptation.

4) Extension of bereavement leave

The new bill introduces a general entitlement to bereavement leave, expanding it to include employees who suffer pregnancy loss before 24 weeks. This marks an important step in recognising the significant emotional impact of early pregnancy loss.

5) Changes to flexible working rules 

Employers will still be able to refuse flexible working requests on specific grounds, but any such refusal must be 'reasonable'. Those who reject a flexible working request must state the grounds for refusal and explain why it’s reasonable. In addition, before refusing a flexible working request, an employer must consult with the employee.

Additionally, employers will now have to review their flexible working policies and practices due to these recent changes and ensure managers are trained on how to appropriately handle flexible working requests. 

In summation, it's clear that the bill brings with it a host of new changes that’ll require adjustments both from employees and employers. If you're interested in employment law, keeping up with the bill, which is currently in its final stage of becoming an act, is crucial. This, alongside understanding the ways in which it’ll affect businesses and individuals going forward, is crucial.