We have rounded up the top five employment law changes for you to look out for in 2024. These changes will have considerable implications for both individuals and employers.
Changes to family friendly rights
Enhanced redundancy protection for employees who take maternity, adoption, and shared parental leave
On 11 December 2023 draft Maternity Leave, Adoption Leave and Shared Parental Leave Regulations 2024 were laid before Parliament. If approved, there will be additional protection from 6 April 2024 applicable to employees at risk of redundancy who are on or returning from maternity, adoption or shared parental leave, whereby the current right to be offered suitable alternative employment will be enhanced.
- Pregnancy: redundancy protection will start when an employee informs their employer of their pregnancy on or after 6 April 2024;
- Maternity leave: redundancy protection will continue until 18 months after the expected week of childbirth or 18 months after the day that the childbirth occurred (if the employee informed their employer of that date);
- Shared parental leave: for employees taking six consecutive weeks of shared parental leave, and do not take either adoption or maternity leave, redundancy protection will continue until 18 months after the child’s birth or date the child is placed with the employee;
- Adoption leave: redundancy protection will continue until 18 months after the child is placed with the employee.
Amendments to the flexible working regime
Several changes were made to the current flexible working regime through the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023. These changes are expected to come into effect on 6 April 2024:
- An employee will no longer have to explain what effect, if any, their flexible working request would have on the employer and how this can be dealt with;
- An employer can no longer refuse a flexible working request unless the employee has been consulted, although there is no current guidance on what a reasonable consultation would entail;
- All flexible working requests have to be decided within two months of receipt, as opposed to the current three months. However, it will still remain open for both parties to agree an extension to this period;
- An employee will now be entitled to make two flexible working requests in any 12-month period as opposed to the current one request. It should be noted that any request made prior to the Act coming into force will be counted when determining an employee’s number of requests over a 12-month period;
- The requirement for an employee to have 26 weeks’ continuous employment to be eligible to make a request will be removed by secondary legislation.
For further details please see our article on this – https://joneschase.com/2023/10/flexible-working-changes-what-you-need-to-know/.
New statutory entitlement for unpaid carer’s leave for employees
From 6 April 2024 the Carer’s Leave Regulations will come into effect. The Regulations provide that an employee who has a dependant that has a long-term care need may take up to one week of unpaid leave in any 12-month period to ensure care is provided.
The unpaid leave does not need to be taken in one go and can be split up to accommodate the dependant’s needs. An employer cannot outright refuse an employee’s request, but it may be postponed if the following conditions are satisfied:
- The employer reasonably considers that the operation of their business would be unduly disrupted if the employee took carer’s leave during the period identified in the notice;
- The employer agrees to permit the employee to take a period of carer’s leave of the same duration identified in the employee’s notice and no later than one month from the date of the period of the employee’s request; and
- The employer gives the employee a notice in writing, within seven days of the initial request, of the postponement which states the reason for the postponement and sets out the agreed dates the employee can take carer’s leave.
New paternity leave regulations
The Paternity Leave Regulations 2024 will apply to all cases where the expected week of childbirth is on or after 6 April 2024. The Regulations will make the following changes to employees taking paternity leave:
- Employees may choose to take either a single period of leave of either one or two weeks, or take two non-consecutive periods of leave of a week each, rather than taking the leave in one go;
- Employees will now be able to take paternity leave within 52 weeks after the birth of the child, as opposed to within 56 days;
- The required notice for an employee to give to their employer is changed to 28 days from the previous requirement of notice to be given 15 weeks before the expected week of childbirth.
Changes to TUPE consultation obligations
TUPE is being amended so that for transfers on or after 1 July 2024 the requirement to elect employee representatives for the purpose of TUPE consultation is removed in relation to either:
- Employers with fewer than 50 employees; and
- Employers of any size, involved in a transfer of fewer than ten employees.
In either of the above situations, employers will be able to inform and consult directly with the employees if there are no existing employee representatives already in place.
For further information please see – https://joneschase.com/2023/11/governments-response-to-the-consultation-on-reforms-to-retained-eu-employment-law//.
Implementation of a mandatory duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace
The Worker Protection Act 2023 implemented a duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, and it will come into effect in October 2024. The Act will result in the following changes:
- Employers will be required to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees; and
- Employment Tribunals will have the ability to uplift sexual harassment compensation by up to 25% where the employer is found to have breached this new duty.
The Worker Protection Bill did initially propose to reintroduce employer liability for harassment by third parties and provided that an employer will not be considered to have failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment of an employee by another employee or by a third party solely because it does not seek to prevent the expression of opinion in conversations or speech in certain circumstances. However, these were both removed by the House of Lords in July 2023. For further details please see our article on this – https://joneschase.com/2023/06/the-worker-protection-bill-what-employers-need-to-know/.
Government released new guidance on holiday entitlement and carryover of leave
The Department for Business and Trade published guidance on 1 January 2024 for calculating holiday pay and holiday entitlement with particular focus on those who do not work full-time (such as part-year workers and those who work irregular hours). The guidance sets out changes to the Working Time Regulations, two of which are:
- For annual leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024, the accrual method will be calculated as 12.07% of actual hours in a pay period; and
- The calculation for statutory holiday entitlement accrued by irregular hours and part-year workers while they are on maternity or family-related leave or off sick (for leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024). This will be 12.07% but employers should not include weeks where the individual is on family related leave or absent due to sickness for any period of time.
The guidance also covers various other helpful points in relation to holiday entitlement and holiday pay with illustrative examples. The link to the guidance in full is here – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/simplifying-holiday-entitlement-and-holiday-pay-calculations/holiday-pay-and-entitlement-reforms-from-1-january-2024?mc_cid=c00bbd4c00&mc_eid=a10f466356#holiday-entitlement-for-irregular-hours-workers-and-part-year-workers.
Changes to the National Living Wage
In 2023 it was announced by the Government that there would be new rates of the National Living Wage and the National Minimum Wage which are due to come into force from 1 April 2024. The changes are as follows:
- £11.44 per hour for those aged 21 and over (up from £10.42);
- £8.60 per hour for those aged 18 – 20 (up from £7.49); and
- £6.40 per hour for those aged 16 and 17, and apprentices (up from £5.28).
For further details please see our article on this – https://joneschase.com/2023/12/employment-law-update-changes-to-the-national-living-wage-in-2024/.
If you would like more information on the proposed changes above or are seeking advice on how these reforms may impact your business, feel free to get in touch with the team.
Jones Chase is a specialist employment law firm based in the centre of London with an excellent track record of looking after those that we assist.
Do contact us should you require further information or need any assistance. We are always happy to speak to people and point them in the right direction.