Employment Law changes in 2016

Brexit is not the only change to affect us in 2016. Employers will begin to feel the impact of employment law reforms made by the first Conservative Government in many years where controversial decisions have been made affecting a number of areas. Here are eight things all employers should know in 2016: 1. Gender pay reporting begins For the very first time, large employers will have to publish details of their gender pay gap. Regulations introduced in March 2016 require organisations with 250 or more employees to report details about the difference in pay between men and women. This also applies to bonus payments. The regulations are expected to come into effect in October 2016. The regulations will form part of the Equality Act 2010 and will apply to employers in the private and voluntary sectors with 250 or more employees. For employers in the public sector, separate regulations will be introduced as part of the Public Sector Equality Duty. It is understood that employers will be given some time to comply with these regulations before the reporting requirements come into force. 2. National living wage introduced Lowest paid workers now enjoy the benefit of the national living wage. This means that employers will need to pay employees aged 25 and over the national living wage. The national living wage is currently set at £7.20. It is important to remember another change concerning minimum pay is the doubling of the penalty for failure to pay employees the national minimum. 3. Statutory parental pay rates and sick pay frozen The Government has proposed that the annual increase enjoyed in the weekly rate for statutory sick pay, statutory maternity pay, statutory paternity pay, statutory adoption pay and statutory shared pay will not happen in 2016. This is because of a fall in consumer prices index which means no uplift for 2016/2017. 4. Restriction placed on public-sector exit payments For the first time, Public sector employees will be subjected to a limit on their exit payment when they leave their job. In order to limit excessive payments, exit payments for public-sector employees are now capped at £95,000. No implementation date has been confirmed as of yet. 5. Trade union law amended The Trade Union Bill has placed restrictions on trade unions before they take industrial action and certain requirements must be met. Some requirements include: increasing the voting threshold to 50%; introducing a requirement that 40% of all those entitled to vote in the ballot vote in favour of industrial action in important public services; setting a four-month time limit for industrial action after the ballot; and increasing the amount of notice to be given to an employer of strike action. 6. Workers given power to seek redress where employer ignored ban on exclusivity clause Exclusively clauses in zero hour contracts have been banned for nearly a year. New regulations were introduced in January 2016 to address employers trying to ignore the ban. These new regulations now give employees the power to make a complaint to the employment tribunal where they have been dismissed or subjected to a detriment following a breach of an exclusivity clause. 7. New rules to protect apprenticeships The Government has banned organisations from using the term “apprenticeship” where it is applied to describe a scheme that is not a statutory apprenticeship, for example in a job advert. 8. Updated laws on employing foreign workers The immigration Bill has placed a number of requirements on employers looking to employ foreign workers. Some requirements include: creating an offence of illegal working; requiring all public-facing public-sector employees to speak English fluently; and introducing an immigration skills charge for employers that use foreign workers.