19/01/2010

This year is set to see a host of new employment laws coming in to force that will affect employers and employees alike.

From April the traditional sick note is to be replaced by the new ‘fit note’. The new notes are intended to give doctors more flexibility by allowing them to confirm that an employee is fit to carry out some of their work. The reasoning behind the change is to provide employers with more advice about the sick employee than is currently provided, helping the employer to devise a strategy to keep the employee at work or speed up their return to the workplace.

Many employees and employers alike find the current anti-discrimination legislation muddled and confusing. In 2008 the Government announced a new Equality Bill designed to bring all of the current legislation dealing with anti-discrimination laws into one streamlined Act. The Bill also contains obligations on businesses to reveal gender pay differences in an attempt to finally remove the gender pay gap.

The Bill failed to make it through the last parliament, but has been carried over into the current session. Whilst there is currently no implementation date the Government has confirmed its intention to pass the Bill before this year’s general election.

Under current legislation fathers are entitled to take two weeks of paid paternity leave. But from 2010 this right will be extended with fathers, and partners of those giving birth or adopting a child, having the right to share the last six months of maternity or adoption leave as long as the mother or adopter returns to work early. Plans to extend statutory maternity pay have, however, fallen by the wayside, meaning that the last three months of the new paternity leave will remain unpaid.

These changes will apply only to parents of children born or adopted after 3 April 2011.

This April will see the introduction of a right for employees to request time off for training. The new laws will oblige employers to seriously consider requests from their employees to take time off for training, although there will be no obligation to grant the leave where there is a good business reason for not doing so.

It is not all good news for employees, however. Employers will not be required to pay for the training or indeed cover the employee’s salary while they are absent from work due to the training. Initially the rule will apply only to employers with more than 250 employees, although the Government has stated its intention to apply it to all employers at an, as yet unspecified, date in the future.

If you wish advice and assistance to any employment matters please contact Jane Liddle on 01603 610481.