2024 and 2025 are set to be busy years for HR and employment law in the UK, meaning employers will need to a variety of changes to ensure they remain compliant.
Our People Partner, Jaime Gilmour, hosted a Q&A session with Donal Moon, our Employment Law Adviser, regarding the key employment law changes which you need to know about, that have come into force so far and the expected changes for 2024 and 2025.
They discussed the upcoming changes on contracts, general HR policies, employee handbooks, as well as the new legislations that have already been introduced. These include holiday pay entitlements, flexible working and more.
Questions:
1. Ok, so to start with, are you able to tell us about the changes to the TUPE legislation?
2. So does this mean if a client was doing a TUPE transfer of less than 10 staff now, they would not have to invite the employees to elect reps?
3. Will this change affect any other forms of consultation i.e. for redundancy or is this solely a TUPE change?
4. I understand that the record keeping requirements regarding working time have changed. What records do employers now have to keep and how is this different from before?
5. That seems like an employer friendly change, which I am sure a lot of our clients will be happy to hear. What about the new rules about holiday and pay?
6. Is this essentially a complete U-turn on the Harpur & Brazel ruling, or will some elements of that remain?
7. Is it true that not all clients can implement these changes yet?
8. Can you tell us a bit about the new right to carers leave?
9. Will this replace parental leave or can this leave be taken for any dependents that an employee has caring responsibilities for?
10. There have been some changes regarding flexible working. Are you able to explain what has changed?
11. I understand that protection from redundancy for employees on family friendly leave has changed. What does this mean for employers?
12. So essentially this means that once an employee returns from family friendly leave, they cannot be made redundant for 6 months after their return date. Is that correct?
13. A new duty to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace is coming in from October 2024. What should employers be doing to prepare?
14. How is this different to what employers should already be doing at the moment or is it just that up until now this was best practice and now there is a legislative requirement to do this?
15. What is the new right to neonatal leave and what will employees be entitled to?
16. Can employees on mat leave take this?
17. If an employer enhances their maternity leave, would they also have to enhance neonatal leave?
18. We have been getting a few enquiries about tips and gratuities. Do you know what the changes are there?
19. What is a qualifying tip?
20. Are there any more new laws expected to be implemented throughout 2024 and 2025?
21. Are you able to tell us a little about what Labour’s plans are?
