April's Employment Law Changes

As we reported back in January, planned legislative changes took place on 6 April 2010. Below we highlight again some of the key changes for HR:-

Additional Paternity Leave – New rules give fathers and partners up to six months’ paternity leave, provided the mother returns to work when her OML ends. Fathers will also be entitled to claim the remainder of the woman’s statutory maternity pay (a further 3 months). Although the rule comes into force on 6th April it will not actually apply until babies are born or placed after 3 April 2011, so it remains one to watch.

The new “Fit Note” is now up and running. Under the new system, sick notes will be replaced by 'fit notes', which will allow a GP to indicate whether an employee is ‘not fit for work’ or ‘maybe fit for some work’ (subject to any role changes the GP suggest). Employers will not be obliged to make any changes the GP suggests, but should be mindful of their obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

Time off to Train – from 6th April 2010, employers with 250+ employees will have to follow a new statutory procedure if a request is made by an employee to take time off to train. The training course must be of benefit to both the business and the employee. The procedure mirrors that of flexible working and employers will need to have good business reasons (as prescribed by legislation) before turning down a request. Employees also need 26 weeks’ service before making a request and may only make one request a year. Neither the course nor the time off needs to be paid for by the employer. The right to this request will be extended to all employers from April 2011.

Immigration changes – as well as new fees and forms, there are changes to Tier 1 and 2 applications. Under the Tier 1 points based system, applicants will now need to demonstrate a higher salary before being granted an earnings point. Under Tier 2 intra-company transfers will no longer lead to indefinite leave to remain and also sponsors will need to meet new criteria before being granted a Certificate of Sponsorship.

Employers should be aware of the changes and check policies and procedures to ensure they are up to date. In particular, we expect that sickness rules will have to be amended to take note of the new “fit note” procedure as well as new policies required for “time off to train” and updating paternity rules once these are in place.

The next wave of legislative changes are planned for October 2010, the key change here being the Equality Bill. The Equality Bill has just finished its passage through the House of Lords and returns to the House of Commons where the Lords’ changes will be debated. The Equality Bill will herald a major change to UK discrimination laws and its effects cannot be underestimated. It will impact on every area of employment from recruitment, to benefits and termination and employers should be aware of its implications. We will be running a series of articles on the Equality Bill in the run up to its enactment. Details of past articles may be found on our website, click here to open in a new window.

Consistent with our policy when giving comment and advice on a non-specific basis, we cannot assume legal responsibility for the accuracy of any particular statement. In the case of specific problems we recommend that professional advice be sought.

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