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Spring is finally in the air – and, with it, so are a whole host of changes in employment law for employers to look out for! April is always a busy month in the employment law calendar, and this year will see changes to the flexible working regime, family friendly rights and calculating holiday entitlement and pay for irregular and part-year workers, amongst the usual annual increases to national minimum wage and Employment Tribunal compensation limits.
Read on for a helpful summary of the key changes, as well as some important points to take-away for your business.
From 6 April 2024, employees will have a “day one” right to request flexible working and no longer need to have at least 26 weeks’ continuous service before making a request.
Take-away points:You may see an increase in flexible working requests, as well as any rejected requests swiftly being followed up by a second, slightly amended request. You should prepare for these changes by reviewing and updating your flexible working policy, and familiarising yourself with the ACAS Code of Practice on Requests for Flexible Working.
These changes will apply where the expected week of childbirth is after 6 April 2024, and to children expected to be placed for adoption on or after 6 April 2024.
Take-away points: You should review and update your paternity leave policy to reflect these changes, and managers should also be aware so that leave can be planned and managed effectively.
From 6 April 2024,employees will have a “day one” right tone week of unpaid carer’s leave in any rolling 12-month period.
Take-away points: You should implement a new carer’s leave policy (or update any policies referring to dependant leave) so that employees are aware of their entitlements, and so managers can handle any requests appropriately. Remember that you can postpone the leave on written notice if business operations would by unduly disrupted by it – as long as you allow it to be taken within one month of the original date requested and consult with the employee to agree the new date.
The law already gives employees on maternity leave, adoption leave or shared parental leave extra protection from redundancy. They have the right to be offered a suitable alternative vacancy (if available), giving them priority access to redeployment opportunities over other redundant employees who are not on family-related leave.
However, this protection will no longer end once these employees have returned to work, and will be extended as follows:
This extended protection will apply to pregnancies which have been disclosed on or after 6 April 2024, and any maternity, adoption and shared parental leave ending on or after 6 April 2024.
Take-away points: You will need to plan any redundancy processes with more care, keeping employees on family-related leave in mind and factoring in this enhanced protection when offering any suitable alternative employment.You may also need to update any redundancy policy which mentions redundancy protection.
The Government has made radical changes to calculating holiday entitlement and pay for irregular and part-year workers. Although the law changed on 1 January 2024, some of the key changes only apply to leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, including:
There are a number of other key changes, which we previously reported here and here.
Take-away points: These reforms will be a relief to many, as you may find it quicker and easier to calculate holiday entitlement and pay for irregular and part-year workers. You should review the Government’s guidance for useful explanations and worked examples (although legal advice should be taken for any specific individual queries).
Take-away points: You should make sure you review these increased rates and implement the changes to your payroll systems from the relevant date in April 2024.
Finally, the annual increase to Employment Tribunal compensation limits and other statutory payments will come into force on 6 April 2024 and apply to any relevant events occurring on or after that date.
The new Vento bands, which set out the guidelines for injury to feelings awards in discrimination cases, will apply to claims presented on or after 6 April 2024.
Jonathan Mumby comments: “April of this year will see a lot of significant changes being brought in.Employers should familiarise themselves with the upcoming changes, review and update their policies on flexible working, paternity leave, carer’s leave and redundancy, and ensure that managers are kept in the loop to avoid falling foul of the new laws and reforms. ”
If you have any questions on the upcoming changes or need help with reviewing and updating your policies, please contact a member of the team here.
The information on this site about legal matters is provided as a general guide only. Although we try to ensure that all of the information on this site is accurate and up to date, this cannot be guaranteed. The information on this site should not be relied upon or construed as constituting legal advice and Howes Percival LLP disclaims liability in relation to its use. You should seek appropriate legal advice before taking or refraining from taking any action.
To contact us, please fill out this form and we will get back in touch as soon as possible. Your personal data will be processed in accordance with our privacy policy which can be found here.