Employment Law Changes - are you ready?

 

As well as being the start to a new financial year, April each year now heralds the introduction of new employment laws for employers to get to grips with.

Not to break with that tradition, 6 April 2010 sees the introduction of a right for employees to request unpaid time off work to undertake study or training. However, this only applies to employers with 250 or more employees. This new "right to request" will only be available to employees who have completed 6 months’ employment. The employees will have to show that the training will improve both their effectiveness at work and the performance of their employer's business.

New rules are also expected in Spring 2010 to introduce new "fit notes" to replace the current “sick notes “. The new forms are intended to provide greater information to employers on an employee's medical condition. GPs will be able to state if the patient is not fit for work at all, or is fit for some or all work. They will also be able to comment on whether adjustments, for example, a phased return to work or changes to their hours or duties would be of benefit to the employee. This is intended to assist employers and to help them manage sickness absence and return to work more effectively.

Further changes are planned for later in the year, the most significant of which is the anticipated passing into law of the Equality Bill, in October of 2010. This bill is designed to harmonise and strengthen the law on the various forms of discrimination. It will also see changes to various aspects of the law, including the introduction of new rules on equal pay and changes to the law on disability discrimination. The new law will also recognise that it is possible to discriminate against a person by reason of a perceived rather than actual characteristic, such as a perceived disability, and also that it is possible to discriminate against a person on, for example, the grounds of someone else’s disability, known as “associative discrimination”.

Other notable planned changes include the introduction of the requirement for those working with vulnerable adults and children to register with the Independent Safeguarding Authority, and in 2011 for additional paternity pay and leave.

For further information on these forthcoming changes or on any other employment issue, please contact Helen Essery on 024 7623 4227.