Government's ‘Business Taskforce’ proposes further employment law reforms - Palmers Solicitors
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Government’s ‘Business Taskforce’ proposes further employment law reforms

The government’s Business Taskforce, which is made up of six senior business people, has recently published new proposals on legal reforms designed to address various barriers to business, including barriers to starting a company and employing staff.

The proposals will have an impact upon various aspects of employment law including areas such as:

  • entitlement to paid maternity leave
  • informing and consulting employees
  • working time
  • TUPE

The report from the Business Taskforce is the result of evidence received from 90 UK business organisations and 20 business organisations across Europe.

The proposals for reform call for the removal of current legislation which is regarded as unnecessary “red tape” as well as the avoidance of new legislation, except where it is ‘unashamedly pro-growth’.

The recommendations affecting employers include:

  • Health and safety – national governments should have the flexibility to decide when small, low-risk businesses, need to keep written risk assessments.
  • Traineeships – there should be no European legislation governing how employers offer traineeships. Rather, any action should be built on best practice and would reflect the fact that individual Member States need a variety of schemes that invite flexibility.
  • Extension of paid maternity leave – the European proposal to extend paid maternity leave to 20 weeks’ full pay should be withdrawn.
  • Posting workers to other EU countries – the proposed posting of workers enforcement directive should not introduce mandatory and new complex rules on sub-contracting and there should be strict limits on the paperwork that a European state can ask a business to provide before sending a worker to another EU country.
  • Extension of information and consultation rights – there should be no change to existing legislation on informing and consulting with workers. The report also suggests that there should not be any introduction of standardised agreements for dispute resolution.
  • Working time – a number of proposals are made on working time issues:
    (a) the UK should keep the ability for workers to opt out of the 48-hour working week;
    (b) there should be increased flexibility around on-call time and compensatory rest; and
    (c) the Working Time Directive should be changed to make it clear that there is no right to reschedule annual leave which is affected by sickness or to carry over annual leave into a new holiday year.
  • Agency workers – consideration should be given to whether the Agency Workers Directive is still necessary and/or what provisions contained within it are no longer required. Employers and workers should be given greater flexibility to agree terms which suit them.
  • Transferring staff between businesses – the Acquired Rights Directive should be amended to allow employers and employees more flexibility to change contractual terms following a transfer.

These new proposals are not binding but rather they seek to offer a recommendation to European institutions and the UK government as to the legislative steps to be taken in the field of employment law to assist the business community.

It is not yet clear what impact these recommendations will have.

Our employment law experts at Palmers can assist employers on all aspects of employment law, including changes to legislation and regulatory requirements which affect their business.

For more information, please visit our website or contact Lara Murray.

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