This year is set to be a busy one for employers and, in particular, HR professionals, with a number of new employment laws and developments coming into force throughout 2024. This includes new rules on holiday leave and pay and the application of TUPE, changes to flexible working and increased protection from redundancy and sexual … Continue reading
On 11 January 2023, the government published draft regulations to make changes to paternity leave legislation which will provide fathers and partners with greater flexibility when taking their paternity leave entitlement. The Paternity Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024 are due to come into force on 8 March 2024 and will apply only to children whose expected … Continue reading
In The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia (Cultural Bureau) v Ms A Alhayali the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) considered the situations in which embassies and other diplomatic missions can claim state immunity from employment-related claims. The EAT applied the recent Supreme Court case of Benkharbouche v Embassy of Sudan which had resulted in an … Continue reading
As we come to the end of 2023, there has been a rush on new employment legislation to come into effect in 2024. Holiday leave and pay As mentioned here the Employment Rights (Amendment, Revocation and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2023 were laid before Parliament on 7 November 2023 and are due to come into force … Continue reading
The Pensions Regulator has, for many years, campaigned to reduce the number of pension transfer scams. Its efforts appear to be having an effect. Cold calling, a typical sign of a scam, is decreasing and the number of UK savers receiving unsolicited approaches about their pensions fell from around 20% in 2017 to 7% in … Continue reading
In Ajaz v Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that an employment judge erred in concluding that rule 52 of the Tribunal Rules 2013 prevented the claimant from raising new whistleblowing detriment claims after earlier detriment claims that were based on the same protected disclosures were dismissed following withdrawal … Continue reading
The Government has announced a series of changes to the national minimum wage, increasing the rates for all workers and giving 21-year-old workers entitlement to the full National Living Wage for the first time. These changes will take effect on 1 April 2024. Currently, only those aged 23 and older are entitled to the full … Continue reading
The Supreme Court in the UK has held that food delivery riders (Riders) were not in an ‘employment relationship’ for the purposes of Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights, meaning that the provisions of that article which protect the right to form and join trade unions do not apply to them. In … Continue reading
The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement on November 22, 2023, included a long list of pensions announcements, although only the first three set out below have a firm starting date of April 6, 2024. Consultations, responses, calls for evidence or reviews were published on: Comment After years of initiatives around the edges of forcing consolidation of pension … Continue reading
On 8 November 2023 the UK government published its response to its May 2023 consultation paper on “Retained EU Employment Law” (the Response). This covered three areas: (i) record keeping requirements under the Working Time Regulations (WTR 1998); (ii) simplifying annual leave and holiday pay calculations in the WTR 1998; and (iii) consultation requirements under … Continue reading
The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (ROA) applies to deem certain previous criminal convictions “spent” where the individual does not re-offend during a certain specified period from the date of conviction – the rehabilitation period. Convictions which are deemed “spent” are not disclosable including to employers except where an exemption applies which is usually due … Continue reading
The Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULRCA) imposes duties on employers who are proposing to dismiss at least 20 employees as redundant at one establishment within 90 days or less. One such duty is to notify the Secretary of State at least 30 days before the first of those dismissals takes effect … Continue reading
As part of a longstanding government programme to combat fraud, the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 has just been passed, although the implementation timeframe has yet to be confirmed. It is a particularly wide-ranging piece of legislation. Should this be on the radar for pension scheme employers and trustees? The most eye-catching part … Continue reading
The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill (the Bill) received Royal Assent on 26 October 2023, becoming the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 (the Act). The Act will come into force in October 2024, and will extend to England, Wales and Scotland. The Act amends provisions in the Equality … Continue reading
With effect from 31 October 2023 the “bonus cap”, which previously limited the variable remuneration of certain bank staff to 100% of their fixed pay (or 200% with shareholder approval) has been abolished. The FCA and PRA in their consultation paper on this change highlighted that the removal of the cap is intended to help … Continue reading
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) have recently published consultation papers setting out proposals to promote diversity and inclusion (D&I) in the financial services sector. The papers follow on from the joint discussion paper in July 2021 when the regulators made it clear that firms should consider D&I. This was followed … Continue reading
An electronic travel authorisation (ETA) will soon be required to enter the UK as a visitor or to transit, for those who would not ordinarily require a visa in advance of travel to the UK. The UK Home Office has stated that the introduction of the requirement by means of the ETA will improve border … Continue reading
The Supreme Court has given its judgment in the case of Chief Constable of Northern Ireland v Agnew and ors and dismissed the appeal, holding that the workers could claim back for a whole series of unlawful deductions even where there was a gap of more than three months between those deductions. In this case, … Continue reading
The Court of Session in Ponticelli UK Ltd v Gallagher recently provided further clarification on what employment benefits transfer when employees transfer from one employer to another under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE). When an employee transfers from one employer to another under TUPE the rights and benefits they enjoy … Continue reading
On 15 September 2023, the UK Government announced that its proposed increases in immigration fees will come into effect at 9am on 4 October 2023. As we indicated in our post on the changes when they were first proposed, this will lead to a roughly 15% increase in the cost of work and visa fees, … Continue reading
On 11 August 2023, the UK House of Commons published a research briefing paper on artificial intelligence (AI) and employment law. The paper provides an overview of AI and its various subcategories, outlines current uses of AI in the workplace, considers the implications of using AI and summarises the current proposals to regulate such use. … Continue reading
All UK employers must carry out right to work checks before employing someone, to ensure that the individual is legally permitted, by reason of their immigration status, to carry out the work in question. Correctly conducting a right to work check prior to employment will provide the employer with a statutory excuse against illegal working. … Continue reading
The Norton Rose Fulbright pensions team surveyed those attending its latest webinar on four of the topics under discussion. We thought the outcome of the votes was interesting enough to share. In the first part of the webinar, I talked about regulatory developments in ESG. I raised a specific concern of mine: that politicians and … Continue reading
The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 preserved a number of EU laws in UK statute as Retained EU Law (REUL). The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill (REUL Bill) was introduced to amend, remove and replace the REULs that the UK government deemed to be unsuitable and replace them with bespoke UK provisions. The … Continue reading