The government’s Employment Rights Bill (ERB), which was a flagship election promise, continues to make progress in the Houses of Parliament. The ERB has now entered its Committee Stage in the House of Lords. Here, every line of the ERB will be reviewed and amendments will be proposed, debated and voted on.
The government has, so far, put forward 27 amendments to be considered by the House of Lords. As these are government amendments, it is almost certain they will be passed and become part of the final act.
Below, we review some of the amendments which all relate to zero hours provisions or guaranteed hours protections. As a reminder, the ERB introduces the right to a guaranteed hours offer. This means that employers must make an offer to eligible workers of a contract which reflects the hours they have worked over a specified reference period. The obligation to make this guaranteed hours offer will be triggered where a mismatch exists between the hours worked in practice and those specified in a contract.
Annualised Hours Contracts
- This amendment will ensure that workers on annualised hours contracts are within the scope for the guaranteed hours provisions. Workers on annualised hours contracts (where workers are expected to work a certain number of hours per year, but these hours are flexibility distributed throughout the year) will now qualify for guaranteed hours protections. It will ensure workers on these types of contracts do not miss out on these protections by virtue of not being on a zero or low hours contract.
Automatic Unfair Dismissal Protections
- New protections have been added to prevent unfair dismissal in cases concerning a guaranteed hours claims. Employees who make a claim in an Employment Tribunal (ET) on any of the grounds related to a right to guaranteed hours will be protected from being dismissed due to making a claim. In such an instance, the dismissal will be automatically unfair.
Shift Movements and Compensation for Cancelled Shifts
- These amendments expand the protections afforded to workers for the purposes of pay and the movement of shifts at short notice. Specifically, the technical definition of “movement” under the ERB is expanded to cover situations where a shift is split into two or more parts or where part of a shift is moved, which results in the shift ending later (but still begins at the same time).
- Payment rules for cancelled, moved or curtailed shifts have also been clarified. New amendments to the ERB mean that an employer will not be required to provide workers formal notice regarding changes to shifts, provided they pay the worker within the deadline for making payment.
Additional Key Amendments:
- Definition of work-finding agencies: a precise legal definition for “Work-finding Agencies” under the ERB has been introduced. These will be defined as a person or business that finds or seeks to find work for others, regardless of whether they operate for profit or in conjunction with other businesses.
- Enhanced employee insolvency protections: employees may now receive short notice payments, as they receive other wages, on the insolvency of their employer – meaning short notice payments will also be treated as preferential debts in the event of insolvency.
- Disclosure of sensitive information and national security: new measures will prevent certain information from being disclosed to an ET or court under zero hours provisions where the government deems this a risk to national security.
- ET proceedings following death of employer, worker or respondent: in the event of a worker’s death, employer’s death or death of a respondent in the case of agency workers, personal representatives of the deceased can still defend or continue ET proceedings under the zero hours provisions.
- Financial Penalties in ET proceedings: Employment Judges will be able to impose financial penalties on respondents in matters involving zero hours provisions and where there are aggravating circumstances.
- Recoupment of Benefits: this will ensure workers do not receive duplicate payments when claiming benefits due to employer non-payment. If a worker successfully wins their ET claim, the benefits they received can be recovered.
Overall, it is clear the government is continuing to strengthen worker and employee rights through the ERB. Clearly, the ERB will have a significant impact and it will be important for employers to have a clear understanding of how it may affect them. If you require assistance in relation to the ERB or require any help updating your policies, please contact a member of our team: employment@wslaw.co.uk