Employment legislation: the predicted changes for April

April is widely associated with: chocolate overload; the start of the new tax year; and also the introduction of new Employment Legislation.

Within this article, we discuss the confirmed and proposed Employment Legislation for April:

1.?????Right to work (confirmed)

2.?????National Minimum Wage increase including the Social Care Levy (confirmed)

3.?????Carer’s leave

4.?????Neonatal leave

5.?????Enhanced redundancy protection for pregnant women and new mothers

6.?????Flexible working

7.?????Sexual harassment

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1.?????Right to work

From the 6th of April, employers are required to carry out a check, using the Home Offices online right to work check service, for employees who hold a:

·??????BRC (biometric residence card)

·??????BRP (biometric residence permit)

·??????FWP (frontier working permit)

It will no longer be an option to complete a manual right-to-work check using a physical BRC, BRP or FWP as all checks from April will be digital.

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Employers who have completed compliant right to work checks on or before 5th April 2022, will not be required to carry out retrospective checks using the updated method.

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Key points for employers

The initial right to work check must be completed by employers prior to the date the employment is due to start and the follow-up right to work check in line with the timings set out in the Employer right to work checks supporting guidance.

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2.?????National Minimum Wage Increase

The National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) will both rise in April.

Currently, the NLW is ￡8.91. From April, it will be ￡9.50 which represents a 6.6% increase.

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NMW rates will also increase for workers as shown below:

Workers aged 21-22 à from ￡8.36 to ￡9.18 (9.8% increase)

Workers aged 18-20 à from ￡6.56 to ￡6.83 (4.1% increase)

Workers aged 16-17 à from ￡4.62 to ￡4.81 (4.1% increase)

Apprentice rate ?à from ￡4.30 to ￡4.81 (11.9% increase)

In addition to a rise in the NMW and the NLW, April will also see the introduction of the Social Care Levy which will help fund the NHS, health and social care.

Given that there has not been sufficient time to process the Social Care Levy as a separate deduction, the government have decided to increase NI to compensate for this payment for this tax year only. A 1.25% increase to NI contributions to most employees, with the exception of employees under the age of 21 and Apprentices under the age of 25, will therefore be introduced.

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Key points for employers

The rise in the NLW will also apply to lower-salaried employees who will earn a minimum of ￡19,750 for a 40 hour week.

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3.?????Carer’s leave

A new right for Carers, allowing one week of unpaid leave per year, will be introduced.

This right will become available to unpaid carers, from day one of their employment, who look after a dependant (a partner, child or parent) with:

·??????A disability

·??????A long-term illness

·??????Issues relating to old age

Employees are able to self-certify their entitlement to the leave and will be protected from detriment: any dismissal for employees exercising the right will be automatically unfair.

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Key points for employers

Employers are highly encouraged to review any existing policies which allow time off for dependents, or offer unpaid leave, and to consider how these policies might interact or overlap with the new right. This will be especially important if either policy provides paid time off. Although leave can be deferred, it cannot be refused. ?

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4.?????Neonatal leave

Neonatal leave and pay is a new right to be introduced for parents of premature or sick babies, up to 28 days old, who require neonatal care. There are believed to be more than 95,000 premature or sick babies born each year in the UK highlighting the importance of this new legislation.

The right applies for a period of up to 12 weeks. The exact time will be influenced by the duration of the hospital stay which must be for a minimum period of seven consecutive days.

Whilst the right to leave will become available to employees from day one of their employment, pay will only become available to parents who satisfy the continuity of service and minimum earnings tests applicable to other types of family leave.

Employees who decide to exercise their rights to neonatal leave will be eligible to protection from detriment or discrimination.

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Key points for employers

The interaction of the right to neonatal leave and pay with statutory maternity, paternity and shared parental leave and pay has yet to be confirmed. Nevertheless, employers are advised to start considering the interaction under their own policies, specifically focusing on whether adjustments may be needed to the period of enhanced contractual maternity or shared parental pay, if neonatal pay is to be offered at enhanced rates.

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5.?????Enhanced redundancy protection for pregnant women and new mothers

Currently, before making an employee on maternity leave redundant, an employer must offer a suitable alternative vacancy where one is available. Circumstances which do not comply with this responsibility are at risk of an automatic unfair dismissal.

The UK government has committed to extending the period for which this right is available, so that it applies from the point at which an employee notifies her employer of her pregnancy until six months after the end of the period of maternity leave.

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Key points for employers

This right is a rare example of lawful positive discrimination: employers must therefore be mindful that they apply the right in line with its terms and do not go beyond it.

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6.?????Flexible working

A consultation, which focused on the positive reforms to the statutory flexible working regime, was carried out by the government at the end of 2021.

Although the government are yet to issue a response to the consultation, possible changes include:

·??????Flexible working becoming a right available to employees from day one of their employment, removing the current requirement for 26 weeks service

·??????Alternations to the list of reasons for rejecting a flexible working request

·??????Enabling employees to make more than one request in any 12-month period

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Key points for employers

Research has revealed that fathers’ requests for flexible working were turned down nearly twice the rate compared to mothers. Employers need to be mindful that not granting flexible working requests could leave them in danger of indirect sex discrimination claims.

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7.?????Sexual harassment

Employers will be required to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment.

The Equality Act makes employers legally responsible if an employee is sexually harassed at work by another employee.

It is yet to be confirmed whether any new law will apply to sexual harassment or harassment more broadly. The government have however inferred within in the consultation that the act would apply to all forms of harassment.

The employer will be required to:

·??????Prepare a discrimination guide for line managers and employers

·??????Advise employees to deal with harassment through internal communications

·??????Establish more effective training for the workforce

Key points for employers

Consider implementing a sexual harassment policy where viable and generating better awareness: include the subject of sexual harassment during any induction, appraisals, reviews or welfare meetings to bring it to the fore. Click here for more suggestions.

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It is evident from the above that employers could be having to understand and implement various new laws from April.

If you have any doubt or queries, please do get in touch. We are experts in this field: providing legally compliant advice is what we do.

Call today on 01455 444222.?