Legal Ease

1 February 2011
Employment Rights (Increase of Limits)

The limit for unfair dismissal will increase from £65,300 £68,400.
Redundancy payment will rise from £380 to £400.
The maximum award and statutory redundancy increases from £11,400 to £12,000.

3 April 2011
The standard Statutory Maternity (SMP), Paternity (SPP) and Adoption (SAP) Leave pay rate increases from £124.88 to £128.73 or the earnings-related rate, which is 90% of the employee's average weekly earnings.

3 April 2011
Work and Families Act 2006

New right for fathers to take additional paternity leave expected to be introduced (for babies due on or after 3 April 2011).

6 April 2011
The standard rate of Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) increases from £79.15 to £81.60 per week.

6 April 2011
Increase in personal allowance and national insurance contributions for employees.
Increase in national insurance thresholds and contributions for employers.

6 April 2011
Equality Act 2010

Positive action in recruitment and promotion come into force. Employers can treat individuals with a protected characteristic more favourably than others in connection with recruitment or promotion. This applies only to candidates of equal merit.

6 April 2011
Apprenticeships, Children and Learning Act 2009

Right to request time off for training expected to be extended to employers with less than 250 employees.

6 April 2011
Transitional period for the removal of the default retirement age comes into force. Employers can no longer retire employees using the default retirement age of 65.

An employer that issues a notification of retirement before 6 April 2011 will be able to retire the employee if the retirement date is before 1 October 2011.

6 April 2011
The Flexible Working Regulations 2010

Right to request flexible working expected to be extended to parents of children under 18.

April 2011
Bribery Act 2010

The Act introduces a corporate offence of failure to prevent bribery by persons working on behalf of a business. A business has a defence if it has adequate procedures in place to prevent bribery. The penalty is an unlimited fine. The legislation raises the maximum penalty for bribery by individuals from seven to 10 years’ imprisonment.

April 2011
Annual limit on economic migration to the UK

The number of people permitted to enter the UK from outside the EU is limited to 20,700 per annum under the skilled worker route (except for those earning a salary of more than £150,000 or in-country applications from those in the UK), and 1,000 per annum under the new exceptional talent route. Tier 2 (general) is open only to migrants performing jobs at graduate level and Tier 1 is restricted to all but entrepreneurs, investors and the exceptionally talented.
The minimum salary for individuals who wish to enter the UK under the intra-company transfer route for more than 12 months is £40,000 but there is no limit on the number of migrants in this category.

5 June 2011
Transnational Information and Consultation of Employees (Amendment) Regulations 2010

The Regulations provide new rights to European Works Council members and those of special negotiating bodies, for example establishing a right to time off to undergo training to help them undertake their duties.

19 June 2011
EU "blue card" Directive

The Directive defines conditions of entry and residence for more than three months of people who are not EU citizens and apply to be admitted to the EU for the purpose of high-qualified employment. Such people will be issued with an "EU blue card".

1 October 2011
National Minimum Wage

Any agreed annual increase of the National Minimum Wage is implemented.

October 2011
Removal of default retirement age becomes effective. From the 1 October employers can no longer prescribe a compulsory retirement age, unless it can justify it as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

1 October 2011
Agency Worker Regulations 2011

These regulations are expected to provide agency workers with the same basic employment conditions after 12 weeks in an assignment as permanent employees.

THE RIGHT TO REQUEST FLEXIBLE WORKING EXTENDED TO ALL PARENTS OF CHILDREN UNDER 18

The Government is extending the right to request flexible working to all parents with children under the age of 18 From 6 April 2011.

The Government is also launching a consultation on the feasibility of allowing everyone the right to make a flexible working request.
Statutory regulations require that an employee must be continuously employed by the same employer for more than 26 weeks to be eligible to make a flexible working request.
Should an eligible employee make a flexible working request, the employer:

· Is obliged to hold a meeting with the employee to discuss the request.

· Has a duty to consider the request.

· Can reject the request for a number of reasons.

The decision must be set out in writing and the employee must be given the right to appeal against the decision. The process must be completed within statutory timescales.

Employers should be careful not to treat flexible working requests from one group of employees more favourably than another, particularly on grounds that could be viewed as discriminatory. It is easy to set a precedent by granting a request, which can then become difficult to deviate from later on. Now we are aware that the government is considering offering the right to flexible working to everyone, it is even more important to consider the impact of agreeing a request at this current time.

HOW SHOULD EMPLOYERS DEAL WITH THE ANNOUNCEMENT THAT PRINCE WILLIAM AND KATE MIDDLETON’S WEDDING IS TO BE MARKED BY AN EXTRA PUBLIC HOLIDAY ON 29 APRIL 2011?

There is no automatic right for an employee to have the day off on a Bank Holiday in England and Wales, it will depend on how the employee’s Contract of Employment is written.

For example, if the employee’s Contract states “20 days (or more) plus bank holidays” then the employer is likely to have to contractually give the employee an extra day’s paid leave on the 29th April 2011. However, if the Contract states “28 days including Bank Holidays” then there will be no extra contractual entitlement.

Employers can agree to allow the extra day, even if the Contract does not allow for it. However, employers should be aware, if you choose to override the Contract of Employment, make sure you communicate to your employees, in writing, that the terms of their Contract still stand and that you are agreeing to this extra day’s holiday in this instance only - there will be other years when an extra bank holiday is officially granted by the Government.