Employment Law End of Year Update 2020

As we near the end of 2020, this is a summary of this year’s key changes to employment law relevant to SMEs:

• All workers are now entitled to receive a written statement of terms (contract of employment) on or before the first day of employment. 

• The abolition of the Swedish derogation relating to pay for agency workers came into force in April.

• Businesses/agencies now need to provide agency workers with a Key Information Document setting out key facts at the start of an assignment.

• For businesses with over 50 employees, regarding the ICE (Information and Consultation of Employees) Regulations, there has been a reduction in the percentage of employees required to make a valid request for an agreement on the sharing of information and consultation within the workplace. Previously it was at least 10% of the workforce who must put in a request before an employer is obliged to take steps to comply with this right. This percentage has now reduced to 2%. The requirement that at least 15 employees make the request has remained.

• The holiday pay reference period increased from 12 weeks to 52 weeks.

• There is now the right to parental bereavement leave and pay. Employed parents now have the right to 2 weeks’ leave if they lose a child under the age of 18, or suffer a stillbirth from 24 weeks of pregnancy. Parents will also be able to claim pay for this period, subject to meeting eligibility criteria.

• At the end of the year, the free movement of EU workers is due to end.

We hope you find this update useful, please don’t hesitate to contact FBN member Rebecca Clayton from R Human Resources if you’d like further information.