Best worker rights for a generation

THE biggest shakeup of employment rights in a generation is about to come into force - and the changes it will bring will have far-reaching consequences for North East businesses that they should be preparing for right now.

- Paul McGowan

The Employment Rights Bill was one of the flagship pieces of proposed legislation that the Labour Party put forward during its 2024 election campaign with a view to improving worker protections, job security and working conditions by, for example, banning controversial 'fire and rehire' processes and ending 'exploitative' zero hours contracts.

It is a truly vast Bill which runs to more than 150 pages as things stand, with more detail still to come, and which is due to come into law in the near future, with Royal Assent expected to be given imminently - indeed, by the time you're reading this article, it may have already happened.

When it does, the impacts that it will have on the ways in which North East firms run their staffing operations will be very significant and diverse - and in fact, we're already seeing this happen.

Perhaps the most important rule change will be the right of individuals to lodge a claim for unfair dismissal from the first day that they join a new employer, rather than having to have had two years' service before gaining that right.