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Employment Law Update (Nov 08)
When the clocks went back I am sure some of us wish that we could put the legislation back! Some of the recent changes have become quite onerous especially for small business. In an effort to reduce the burden on businesses, the government may postpone the introduction of more generous flexible working, maternity leave and annual leave rights. The government had planned to extend the right to request flexible working from those with children up to the age of six (or 18 in the case of disabled children) to 16 in April 2009. It may also postpone plans to increase paid maternity leave from 39 to 52 weeks, and to introduce another bank holiday. Now in force ….. Maternity leave rights are extended Women are now entitled to the same terms and conditions during additional maternity leave (or adoption leave) as during ordinary maternity leave this will include contractual bonus payments. Additional rights for agency workers Statutory sick leave has been extended to fixed term agency workers from 27 October 2008, who were previously excluded if they had contracts of less than three months. Proposals giving temporary agency workers equal treatment compared to permanent workers were approved by the European Parliament this month. The Government has three years to introduce appropriate UK legislation under the Directive. Minimum wage increases The minimum wage increased from 1 October 2008: for workers aged 22 and over it is now £5.73 per hour. Rules on insurance certificates are relaxed Obligations on keeping liability insurance certificates have been relaxed: these can now be made available electronically rather than being displayed at the place of business, and no longer need to be kept for 40 years.
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Update by Dami Patel, Managing Director Dovetail HR Management Ltd
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