Employment Law Update

April 2014

• Early conciliation to come into force

Anyone wishing to lodge a tribunal claim will need to notify ACAS first, where early conciliation will be offered. There will be a certain period for a settlement to be agreed before the claim can be considered by the Tribunal.

Spring 2014

• Flexible working

The right to request flexible working may be made available to all employees and the current statutory procedure for considering requests may be removed. Instead employers will have a duty to consider all requests in a reasonable manner.

§  Managing sickness absence

A health and work assessment and advisory service is to be introduced, offering fee occupational health assistance for employees, employers and GPs. The service can provide an occupational health assessment after four weeks of sickness absence.

2015

• Flexible parental leave

New parents will be able to choose how they share the care of their new born child for the first year after birth. New mothers will still have to take at least 2 weeks off after the birth but the rest of the leave can be shared by both parents as ‘shared parental leave’ (SPL), if they meet certain criteria with their employment.

• Parental leave extended to children aged 18

The right for employees to take unpaid parental leave will be extended to parents of any child under the age of 18 years.

• Surrogate parents will be eligible for adoption leave

Provided employees meet the eligibility criteria, parents who have a child through surrogacy will be permitted to take adoption leave and pay and also shared parental leave and pay.

• The school leaving age will rise to 18 years
 

 

All of the above updates are subject to change; please speak to a member of the Tamar HR team to discuss any updates that might affect your business.