Upcoming changes to employment law in 2024
16 April 2024
Below is a summary of the upcoming changes to employment law for 2024.
April:
• Irregular hour and part year workers will accrue leave at the end of each pay period at 12.07% of hours worked which is able to be paid on a rolled-up basis. The 12.07% is based on the premise that all workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks of leave per annum. This will apply to holiday years starting from 01 April 2024.
• National living wage will increase from £10.42 to £11.44.
• The right to request flexible working will now become a day one request. Further changes to this are that there will now be a right to make two flexible working requests a year, an enhanced consultation requirement to qualify for flexible working and to consult with employees before rejecting a request, as well as a shorter decision timeframe of two months.
• Priority for suitable alternative employment when a redundancy situation arises extends to pregnant employees as well as those who have recently returned from maternity/adoption or shared parental leave.
• From the 06 April 2024, there will now be a new day one right to a week’s unpaid carer’s leave per year for employees to provide care for a dependent with a long-term care need. The dependant must have; a physical or mental illness/injury that means they are expected to need care for more than 3 months, a disability as defined in the Equality Act 2010, or they need care due to old age.
July:
• The new Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 will come into effect on the 01 July 2024. This places a requirement on employers to pass 100% of tips on without any deductions. There is also an obligation on employers to have a compliant written policy, keep records of information and pay staff promptly.
• Employers will be able to consult with employees directly (unless the organisation has employee representatives) for TUPE transfers that will take place after the 01 July 2024. This however is only limited to TUPE scenarios where the business has less than 50 employees, or where the transfer involves fewer than 10 employees.
September and October:
• Employers will now face a higher burden of proof to demonstrate the prevention of sexual harassment, and there will be a duty for employers to take proactive steps to prevent employees from being sexually harassed, which will come into effect through the Worker Protection Act on 26 October 2024. An employer may now be liable for the harassment of employees by third parties under certain situations.
• will be a new statutory right to request a predictable working pattern, which is expected to come into force in September 2024. An employer must respond to the request within one month, and if refused, must cite a statutory reason for refusal.
Please contact our employment team here for any advice.
