Employment Law

For many businesses, calculating holiday pay is a straight-forward process. Employers are, within the parameters of the law, able to dictate how many annual leave days or hours a staff member is entitled to.

Welcome to the Spring 24 edition of our Business First magazine.

People often talk about how certain groups are under-represented within workforces, but what steps can an employer take to redress this? Head of Employment Law at Banner Jones Solicitors, Katie Ash, discusses how employers can use a Positive Action approach to eliminate or reduce discrimination and help these groups access employment or training as outlined in the Equality Act 2010.

Workplace banter is driving a surge in claims against employers with research showing that 66 claimes relating to banter were heard in employment tribunals in 2022.

In November 2023 the government announced a minimum wage increase which was focused on protecting low-paid workers’ living standards in light of the current economic climate and cost of living crisis. The changes are due to come in to force on the 1st April 2024 - is your business ready?

As we enter 2024, we’ve been reflecting on some of the significant changes in employment law we have seen over the course of 2023 which employers need to be aware of. These include amendments to the flexible working regime, further deliberations about employment status by the Supreme Court and considerable changes to the calculation of holiday pay. 2024 looks set to be a big year for change in employment law, so here we have done a roundup of key developments in 2023 and have highlighted the ‘ones to watch’ in 2024.

Consultation is a key part of any fair redundancy process. It is therefore vital that employers considering redundancies plan how they will consult their employees about any proposed redundancies at an early stage.

New regulations extending flexible working rights were put before Parliament on 11^th December 2023. From the 6th April 2024, these new regulations came into force and all employees will no longer need to have 26 weeks’ continuous employment in order to make a flexible working request.

The UK Supreme Court has ruled that employees can claim for a series of underpayments of holiday pay, even where there has been a gap of more than three months between different underpayment periods. This could lead to many UK workers being entitled to thousands of pounds in miscalculated holiday pay.

Our quarterly business magazine is packed full of features including creating a supportive workplace, sustainable buildings, legally compliant HR and EDI essentials.

Women make up a significant portion of the workforce, so it is hardly surprising that gender equality in the workplace has become an important topic in recent decades.

Most companies work hard to create a safe and productive workplace, but how can businesses stay up to date on these policy and initiative changes, as well as mitigating risks?

Would removing non-compete clauses improve worker’s rights? Theoretically, they’re supposed to be in place for C-suite level employees to prevent them taking business secrets to competitors. So, is it necessary to make low-level workers sign non-competes too? Is it too harsh?

A right royal holiday clash

Holiday pay for the additional bank holiday on 8th May to celebrate the upcoming coronation is giving employers a headache before a toast has been raised to the new King.