As we approach the end of a year of political turmoil we look back at the key changes in employment law and look forward to the changes already scheduled for 2020. You can find a detailed analysis on our website (https://taylorwalton.com/downloads) but here are the highlights:-
- In the complex area of holiday pay, BEIS published guidance to assist employers to calculate holiday pay for irregular hours workers. Case law established that regular and predictable voluntary overtime payments must be included in holiday pay calculations.
- Guidance from the Advocate General and an ECJ decision confirmed that employers must set up an objective, reliable and accessible system to enable to record time worked each day by employees and workers.
- Employers were reminded of the importance of drafting reasonable and effective restrictive covenants when the Supreme Court held that impermissibly wide wording in a six-month non-compete restriction could be severed for the clause to remain valid but the original clause had been too widely drafted to be enforceable.
- A number of consultations were launched in the area of family friendly rights for employees covering the areas of protection against redundancy for pregnant women and new parents, reform of family related leave and pay, a new right for neonatal leave and pay and transparency surrounding flexible working and parental leave and pay policies.
Looking forward to 2020:-
- Employers will see the results of the Taylor Review, a review of modern working practices from 2018. There is a host of legislation expected to come into force in April 2020 and we expect that all employers will be affected by at least one, if not more, of the changes.
- To name a few: medium and large businesses will have to make a determination on employment status of individuals providing services through an IR35 company; agency workers will be entitled to receive a “key information document” from the employment business; the “Swedish derogation”, allowing employers to pay contracted workers less than direct employees in some circumstances, will be revoked; and a written statement of terms must be given on or before the first day of employment.
- Employment law in 2020 will be affected by the outcome of the election and Brexit and further significant change is likely to follow.