New Employment Rights Bill – an update
An Amendment Paper on the new Employment Rights Bill (numbering no fewer than 53 pages!) has been tabled. The key proposed changes from the Government include: Extending the time limit for bringing all tribunal claims from 3 months to 6 months. This is a big change, and it was missed out of the original Bill, so this is the first time we have heard about it. Changing the definition of ‘initial period of employment’ for the purposes of unfair dismissal becoming a day one right. It is now clear that the initial period of employment, to be set out later in Regulations, must be between 3 and 9 months. We still don’t know whether this can be extended out further than the 9 months or if that time period will be set in stone as the definitive end of the probationary period. Changes to the rules on payments when shifts are cancelled, moved or curtailed at short notice, including giving the tribunal discretion on whether to make an award, and further discretion as to what that payment should be, taking account of the ‘seriousness of the matter’. Adding menstrual problems and menstrual disorders to the definition of “matters related to
