A report has warned today that employers face a raft of “burdensome” law changes this year, which risk hampering growth and recruitment and could scupper the Government’s ambition to reduce the amount of red tape business owners endure.
The legislation expected to come in this year includes changes to flexible working, parental leave and the pensions system, while employers will also have to adapt to the concept of employee shareholder status.
Under the “employee-owner” contract, employee-owners will be given between £2,000 and £50,000 of shares in the business, which will be exempt from capital gains tax, in exchange for foregoing certain employment rights.
While under the Parental Leave Directive, the permitted period of parental leave following the birth or adoption of a child will rise from three to four months and the right to request flexible working is extended to agency workers returning from a period of parental leave.
Also, next month employment tribunal award limits will rise. For example, the limit on the amount of a week’s pay for redundancy and unfair dismissal basic award purposes increases from £430 to £450 and the maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal goes up from £72,300 to £74,200.
While in April, the 90-day minimum period for collective redundancy consultation will be reduced to 45 days and it is expected that Tribunal procedural rules will be amended to include an initial paper sift to weed out weak claims.
Later this year employment tribunal fees will be introduced. These include an issue fee of £160 or £250, depending on the claim, a hearing fee of £230 or £950 and an Employment Appeal Tribunal issue fee of £400 and a £1,200 hearing fee.
Tribunals will also have the power to order the unsuccessful party to reimburse fees by the successful party and a fee remission system will operate for those who cannot afford to pay.