Employment changes come into effect

A number of employment law changes come into operation in early April.

From 6 April, the minimum period for which firms must consult with staff over large-scale collective redundancies, where 100 or more people are at risk of redundancy, is halved from 90 days to 45 days.

The minimum consultation period where the employer is proposing to dismiss 20-99 employees stays at 30 days.

In addition, employers no longer need to include people working under fixed-term contracts in collective redundancy exercises, although fixed- term employees may still be able to claim unfair dismissal (usually depending on their length of service) and discrimination.

As from April, anyone dismissed for his political opinions or affiliation will not need two years’ employment in order to bring an unfair dismissal claim. A dismissal for this reason will not be automatically unfair; unfairness will be judged in the usual way and the normal levels of compensation will apply.

From 6 April, statutory sick pay (SSP) increases to £86.70 a week from £85.85. And from 7 April the weekly rate of statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay increases to £136.78 from £135.45 where the employee meets various conditions.

For more details of SSP and other state benefits see the Labour Research Department’s new booklet State benefits and tax credits 2013.

www.lrdpublications.org.uk/publications.php?pub=BK&iss=1656

www.thackraywilliams.com/employment%20law%20april%202013.aspx