{"id":27779,"date":"2025-01-17T16:15:46","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T16:15:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smh.group\/?p=27779"},"modified":"2025-01-17T16:15:46","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T16:15:46","slug":"the-employment-rights-bill-what-employers-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/the-employment-rights-bill-what-employers-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"The Employment Rights Bill: What Employers Need to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The Employment Rights Bill currently progressing through Parliament is set to have significant implications for employers once enacted. In addition to limiting flexible working options, the proposed changes are expected to cost businesses billions of pounds annually to implement.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Businesses operating in the hospitality sector will take a significant hit from implementing and complying with the package of improved workers\u2019 rights.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Day one rights<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Some employment rights are currently only available after an employee works for a qualifying period:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Protection from unfair dismissal requires two years of continuous employment.<\/li>\n<li>Paternity leave is only available after 26 weeks of employment, with unpaid parental leave requiring a year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Bill will see these rights available from day one of employment. Not surprisingly, employers are concerned that in future they will be unable to easily dismiss those employees whose performance is not up to par. However, the Bill does provide for an initial period during which the rules for fair dismissal will be less onerous.<\/p>\n<p>The Bill also removes the three-day waiting period before an employee is entitled to statutory sick pay and the minimum earnings level, potentially increasing employer costs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zero-hours contract<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Under current zero-hours contracts, workers are not guaranteed how many hours they will work, simply working when requested. However, the Bill will mean that workers must be offered a contract with guaranteed hours based on the hours worked over a 12-week period. Workers must also be paid for any shifts that are cancelled, moved at short notice or curtailed.<\/p>\n<p>Although the Bill will not abolish zero-hours contracts as such, this change will be problematic for employers that make extensive use of seasonal workers. Their period of work will probably be curtailed to less than 12 weeks.<\/p>\n<p>As yet, there are no specific start dates for the proposed changes, although employers need to review their employment practices and start preparing well in advance.<\/p>\n<p>Factsheets covering the various measures included in the Employment Rights Bill can be found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/employment-rights-bill-factsheets\">here<\/a><strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For more information,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/contact\/\">contact us<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=SMH+Group&amp;rlz=1C1GCEU_en-GBGB1092GB1092&amp;oq=smh+gr&amp;gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqDggAEEUYJxg7GIAEGIoFMg4IABBFGCcYOxiABBiKBTIGCAEQRRg5Mg0IAhAuGK8BGMcBGIAEMggIAxBFGCcYOzIQCAQQLhivARjHARiABBiOBTIGCAUQRRg8MgYIBhBFGEEyBggHEEUYPNIBCDMxMDlqMWo3qAIAsAIA&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8\">0114 266 4432<\/a> <\/strong>or email\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:info@smh.group\"><strong>info@smh.group.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Employment Rights Bill currently progressing through Parliament is set to have significant implications for employers once enacted. In addition to limiting flexible working options, the proposed changes are expected to cost businesses billions of pounds annually to implement. Businesses operating in the hospitality sector will take a significant hit from implementing and complying with the package of improved workers\u2019 rights. Day one rights Some employment rights are currently only available after an employee works for a qualifying period: Protection from unfair dismissal requires two years of continuous employment. Paternity leave is only available after 26 weeks of employment, with unpaid parental leave requiring a year. The Bill will see these rights available from day one of employment. Not surprisingly, employers are concerned that in future they will be unable to easily dismiss those employees whose performance is not up to par. However, the Bill does provide for an initial period during which the rules for fair dismissal will be less onerous. The Bill also removes the three-day waiting period before an employee is entitled to statutory sick pay and the minimum earnings level, potentially increasing employer costs. Zero-hours contract Under current zero-hours contracts, workers are not guaranteed how many [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":27774,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1375,1376],"class_list":["post-27779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-smh-accounting-business-advisory","tag-employment-rights-bill","tag-zero-hours-contract"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Employment Rights Bill: What Employers Need to Know - SMH Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Employment Rights Bill currently progressing through Parliament is set to have significant implications for employers once enacted.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Employment Rights Bill: What Employers Need to Know - 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