Elizabeth Judson and Tom Evans outline some of the recent employment law changes.
Living with COVID plan – Timetable of Employment Implications
From 24 February 2022
- Legal requirement to self-isolate (and tell employer of this) ends.
- No longer a criminal offence to attend the workplace after a positive COVID-19 test (Gov advice to stay at home for 5 days and x2 negative tests on consecutive days to stay in place until 1.4.22. Thereafter exercise personal responsibility).
From 24 March 2022
- COVID-19 provisions regarding SSP will end & reverts to pre-pandemic rules (SSP reverts to day 4 right/ no self isolating right to SSP/ rebate scheme- COVID-19 absences to 17.3.2022 can be claimed only).
From 1 April 2022
- Free universal testing will end.
- Employers will no longer need to explicitly consider COVID-19 in their risk assessments- empower businesses to take responsibility for implementing mitigations appropriate for their circumstances.
- Existing ‘Working safely during coronavirus COVID-19’ guidance will be replaced with new public health guidance from 1 April 2022 (on which it will consult employers).
New for 2022: The Employment Bill
The Employment Bill was first announced in Queen’s Speech on 19th Dec 2019: to be introduced “when parliamentary time allows”. Proposals include:
- Making flexible working a day 1 right (as opposed to 26 weeks service)
- A single enforcement body focusing on protecting workers’ rights, including holiday pay, sick pay and modern slavery
- Right after 26 weeks of service for those without a fixed working pattern to request a more stable or predictable contract, reasonable notice of expected working hours and compensation if work is cancelled on short notice
- Pregnancy and maternity discrimination: extending existing redundancy protection- 6 months after end of maternity leave- offer woman any suitable alternative vacancy (reg.10 of the Maternity and Parental Leave etc Regulations 1999)
- Paid leave of up to 12 weeks for neonatal care
- 1 week’s unpaid leave per year for carers
- Tips/ service charges to go to workers in full
For further advice on recent Employment Law Changes please contact Tom Evans at tom.evans@dtmlegal.com or Elizabeth Judson at elizabeth.judson@dtmlegal.com
