Ring in THE CHANGES

It’s been many years since the Government has made any signiicant changes to employment law.

Following the publication of the Taylor Report, which investigated the increasing use, and in some cases abuse, of practices such as zero-hour contracts, agency working and self-employment, initially it looked likely there would be legislation to ban zero-hour contracts and severely restrict agency use.

However, the report also revealed that casual and zero-hour arrangements are often used positively by both employers and employees, so the Government is now proposing to tighten up the rules rather than outlaw the practice. The Government published “The Good Work Plan” in December 2018. The statutory instruments to turn the proposals into law were published the day after so you might hear of the “Employment Rights Amendment Regulations 2018”.

Key proposals

Currently, employees must have either a contract or statement of particulars within two months of taking up a post. It is proposed that by April 2020 employees will be entitled to know the main terms of their employment on day one. The list of items to be included in the document has been extended to include details of family leave, any probationary period, pay entitlements and all remuneration (not just pay). Interestingly, the right is extended to agency and zero-hour workers as well as employees.

Currently, where staffhave a break in service of one week, it’s viewed as a break in their continuous service. Many employment rights are based on length of service so using a one-week break can exclude staff, particularly zero-hour employees, from some rights. The proposal is that the length of the break will be increased to four weeks. There is another proposal that the calculation of holiday pay will change in cases where employees have variable hours. Currently, if an employee is casual, when they take a week’s holiday they are paid based on their average hours over the past 12 weeks. The proposal is the calculation will be based on the previous 52 weeks (or number of weeks worked if less than 52).

Clearer rules

There will also be legislation to streamline employment status tests. Currently, an employment tribunal can decide if someone is an employee or a worker for employment purposes, whereas HMRC has a different test for tax assessment. The intention is that there will be a single assessment for both to reduce confusion as to whether someone is self-employed.

There will be a ban on employers making deductions from stafftips, and employers who don’t pay employment tribunal awards can be named and shamed. After 26 weeks, an employee will be able to request a ixed working pattern or more regular hours. There is little detail of what happens if the request is refused.

Changes will also come to the way agency workers are paid. After 12 weeks working for an employer, they are entitled to the same pay and conditions as permanent staff. However, an act known as Swedish Derogation allows the worker’s contract to remain with the agency rather than the host employer, meaning the rule can be sidestepped. The Government plans to abolish Swedish Derogation by April 2020.

Of course, we’ll have to wait and see what the eventual legislation looks like but quite a few of these changes will directly impact salons.

David Wright is a consultant in all aspects of employment practice and law. He is the main employment law consultant for Habia and provides a personalised support service for UK salons.

Tel: 01302 563691 davidwrightpersonnel.co.uk