Employment Law
- Flexible Working Changes
The Government has confirmed that the right to request flexible working will become a right for all employees regardless of length of service. They will also change the current requirements to allow employees to make two flexible working requests in every 12 month period, require employers to consult with the employee if they are thinking about rejecting their request, and reduce the maximum time allowed for the process (including any appeal) to 2 months. We await further information as to when these changes will come into effect.
- Data Protection
The Government intends to replace the EU-derived GDPR and launch a new Employment Practices Code, so definitely watch this space to see how these may impact how you handle employee information. In the meantime the Information Commissioner’s Office has produced draft guidance about monitoring at work and workers’ health for consultation which are well worth a read.
- Government Consultation on Holiday Entitlement for Part-Year and Irregular-Hours Workers
The current law on calculating holiday for such workers is complex, can be onerous for employers to calculate correctly and can result in some workers being paid more favourably than an equivalent full time worker. The Government is therefore consulting on how to try to make holiday entitlement proportionate to hours worked. If you have any such workers, this is definitely one to watch very closely.
Please note that this is not legal advice. However, if you did wish to get some legal advice for your situation – reach out to us.
