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Employment Law reforms you need to be prepared for in 2024

Keeping up with the ongoing employment law reforms isn’t easy, but you must ensure your business policies and employment contracts are kept up to date.

From April this year, the Government is introducing a series of Acts that will impact your obligations, relating to annual leave, harassment protection, and more.

Being prepared now ensures that you, your business, and your employees are fully compliant.

Family-related Acts

On 6 April 2024, two Acts are set to come into place affecting employees’ leave regarding their families and dependents.

For employees who are pregnant or returning from maternity, adoption, or shared parental leave, the protection from redundancy is being expanded.

The Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023 expands the existing protections to include pregnant employees from the moment they notify their employer of their pregnancy until 18 months after childbirth.

The Carer’s Leave Act 2023 increases the amount of annual leave that employees are entitled to if they are caring for dependents with long-term needs.

This Act grants one additional week of unpaid annual leave for employees who are carers.

Equality Act amendments

The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 creates an addition to the 2010 Equality Act. Employers will now have a duty to take a proactive approach to preventing sexual harassment in the workplace.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission will also create a new statutory code of practice to accompany this Act for employers to follow.

If employers are found to be breaching their duties when sexual harassment cases are brought to the employment tribunal, employee compensation could be increased by 25 per cent.

Therefore, it is vital to ensure that your business is prepared to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace before the Act comes into force in October 2024.

Flexible and predictable working

In April 2024, the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 will come into place. This Act will allow employees to request flexible working from day one of employment, as opposed to the existing regulations of having to wait 26 weeks.

The number of requests has also changed, increasing to two requests in 12 months. Employers must now also respond to the request with a decision within two months rather than three.

Protections have also increased for workers in the gig economy with the Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023.

This Act will allow employees and agency workers to request more predictable terms and conditions of work.

Annual leave

The Employment Rights (Amendment, Revocation and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2023 will impact holiday pay, annual leave, and working time. The main changes include:

Holiday entitlement can be calculated at a rate of 12.07 per cent for employees with irregular hours
Records of working hours and rest periods are no longer required to be kept by employers
Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE) will be amended so businesses with less than 50 employees, or transfers of less than 10 employees, can directly communicate with their staff

All these changes to employment law not only affect employees but employers too.

As a business owner, you must be prepared for upcoming changes to legislation. You must ensure that you are complying with the new rules and regulations, as well as updating all employment contracts to reflect the law.

If you need help with any of these changes, please get in touch with a member of our expert team today.

Amanda Hyam

Head of Dispute Resolution and Employment

I have specialised in Dispute Resolution, Civil Litigation and Employment law for more than 15 years. I understand how daunting the prospect of litigation can be and because of this I am always available to discuss concerns.