Good morning, Everyone,

Welcome back to this week’s MMD.

This week we take another look at the Employment Rights Bill.

In the podcast Sam reviews the Employment Rights Bill and Nils discusses the role of the HSE. Daniel’s video also reviews the Employment Rights Bill, responding to the explanatory factsheets released by the government. In the news we take another look at flexible working in the Employment Rights Bill and Day One Rights.

THE MMD PODCAST

Episode 42: Flexible Fees

Join Sam and Nils for this week’s episode where Sam continues his review of the Employment Rights Bill with a focus on flexible working whilst Nils discusses the role of the HSE.

Listen to the episode here: https://spoti.fi/3YCto3Y

THE MEDIA HUB

Bring me the Bill – Part One

The Government has released ten separate explanatory factsheets in relation to different aspects of the Employment Rights Bill. In part one, we review the commentary on the removal of the qualifying service requirement for unfair dismissal (deep breaths employers!) and protection for zero hours’ workers (cue the furlough-style complex mathematics!). The content of these factsheets gives additional clues as to what might make the cut in the final version of the legislation.

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/CQ7iTbYfRdY

A Shift towards “Flexible by Default”?

In April, the right to request flexible working became a day-one right. The change imposed a statutory duty on employers to respond to a flexible working request within two months and to provide one of eight statutory reasons when refusing a request.

However, Labour’s Make Work Pay manifesto pledged to make sweeping changes the handling of flexible working requests. Where flexible working is ‘reasonably feasible’, it should become the ‘default’.

This proposal formed part of the Employment Rights Bill, brought before parliament earlier this month. Whilst the details of the Bill remain scant, and the policy’s implementation date remains unclear, it is anticipated that the Bill will substantially change the way employers are required to approach flexible working.

Though employees currently have a right to request flexible working from day-one, it is relatively easy for employers to refuse that request. The onus is effectively on the employee to show that they could work flexibly, and provided that employers follow a reasonable process in handling that request and use one of eight (relatively broad) statutory reasons to refuse that request, they are generally well within their rights to refuse.

However, under the new Bill, the onus is likely to shift onto employers to prove that an employee cannot work flexibly to refuse their request. Amidst a shift to return to pre-lockdown working patterns, with more than three-quarters of Britain’s financial sector bosses planning to push workers back into the office in the next year, and controversial ‘back to the office’ mandates being enforced by businesses such as Amazon, employers should give consideration to the Bill. Once the Bill is implemented, ‘Company culture’ is unlikely to be a sufficient statutory reason for refusing a flexible working request.

For more information about how to prepare your business for incoming changes to Flexible Working, listen to this week’s podcast, where Sam discusses how employers can prepare for the Bill.

UPCOMING EVENTS

• 20^th Nov, 8:30 AM | Weetwood Hall Estate, Leeds
  Mock Tribunal Event on Menopause and Age Discrimination

For more details and how to register please visit our website:

www.chadwicklawrence.co.uk/seminars/business-services-seminars/

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