General Election – what happens to jobs if Labour gets in?

 

Sejal Patel, Senior Associate Solicitor
Employment Team
Lawson West Solicitors, Leicester

 

Now that the General Election is announced on 4^th July, we look at Labour’s plans for employment and employment law reforms. Will the country’s workforce be better off under Labour?

Within the first 100 days of office, Labour will introduce an Employment Rights Bill to introduce significant changes to employment law legislation, some changes will be radical with transformational implications for employees and employers.

Labour Employment Pledges

Labour’s employment proposals focus on improving job security and pay levels, levelling inequality, and tackling the growth of In-Work Poverty. We set out below some of the legislative and social policies Labour is likely to introduce:

Changes Affecting Employers and Employees

End of In-Work Poverty
- Minimum wage to cover the cost of living
- National living wage will live up to its name

Equal Pay Rights – we can expect a wider worker’s rights bill:

• Equal Pay– new rules to permit equal pay comparisons across employers – for the same job

• Fair Pay– consulting on and establishing a new Fair Pay Agreement in the adult social care sector – which has some of the lowest paid UK care workers, balancing pay across the UK – and assessing if FPAs could help other sectors.

• Workers to have reasonable notice of changes to shifts or working time, with compensation for any shifts cancelled without appropriate notice.

• Hospitality workers to have rights to receive all their tips due and workers to decide how tips are allocated.

• Low Pay –Low Pay Commission’s remit will be changed to ensure the Minimum Wage reflects the Cost of Living.

• Sick Pay - strengthened for all workers.

Better Deal for Self-Employed
- Self-employed will receive improved rights and protections

Family-Friendly Policies
- Extending statutory maternity and paternity leave
- Introducing the right to bereavement leave
- Strengthening protections for pregnant women, making it unlawful to dismiss a woman who is pregnant for six months after her return to work, unless specific circumstances exist

Parental Leave Bill

• Will review parental leave including the failed ‘shared parental leave’ system

Health & Safety at Work Act

• A review of the Act to put mental health on a par with physical health in workplaces.

Improve Workplace Security
- Ban on Zero Hours Contracts & ‘Fire and Rehire’ practices - to encourage job security
- Strengthening Statutory Sick Pay and make it available to all workers including those on low wages

Work and Home Life Balance 
– Making flexible working the default from day one for all workers, except where it is not reasonably fair, carers rights enhanced (building on the Conservative’s Carer’s Leave Bill due in 2024) and ‘right to disconnect’ (employees can switch-off their devices with no pressure to work outside of their normal hours).

- Give all workers ‘day one rights’ on the job – no longer having to wait two years to receive specific employee rights. Ensuring all workers benefit from flexible working, including part-time, term-time and flexi-hours requests. Delivering flexible working for all workers from ‘day one of employment’.

Single Worker Status – a consultation to begin, moving towards a single status of worker and transition towards a simpler two-part framework for employment status.

Gender Equality and Menopause – large firms will be required to develop and publish action plans to ensure equality in the workplace, these will include how they plan to support female workers experiencing menopausal symptoms.

Pregnancy and Maternity Rights – extending redundancy protection, and a new right to neonatal leave and pay.

Discrimination – introducing ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting for large employers.

Unfair Dismissal – significant changes are expected.

Apprenticeship Schemes – to reform the Conservatives’ apprenticeships levy into a ‘growth and skills levy’ that works across all nations and region.

Changes to affect Trade Unions

Trade Union Rights – will be expanded, repealing various anti-trade union laws to:

• Strengthen and update the rights of working people and empowering workers to organise collectively through trade unions.

• Repeal the Trade Union Act 2016, the Minimum Service Levels (Strikes) Bill and the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses (Amendment) Regulations 2022

• Update trade union legislation, so it is fit for a modern economy, removing unnecessary restrictions on trade union activity and ensuring industrial relations are based around good faith negotiation and bargaining

• Allow trade unions to use modern, secure, electronic balloting

• Simplify the process of union recognition and ensure reasonable access within workplaces

• Strengthen rights for trade unions to organise, represent and negotiate

• Ensure workers in precarious and gig-economy sectors have a realistic and meaningful right to organise through trade unions.

• Create new rights and protections for trade unions reps to undertake their work, strengthening protections for trade union representatives against unfair dismissal and union members from intimidation, harassment, threats and blacklisting

• Ensure there is sufficient facilities time for all trade union reps so that they have capacity to represent and defend workers, negotiate with employers and train as well as create fairer workplaces and tackle gender pay gaps.

 

If you are affected by any of these employment issues as an Employee, or as an Employer you are concerned about the wider implications for your business, please Contact Us and speak to one of our employment law experts.

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