Welcome to our first Employment Law Essentials: an E-bulletin for Employers.
Our monthly e-bulletins are designed to keep you and your HR team up to date on key developments in employment law and the ever-changing and sometimes complex employment rules and regulations.
Employment News
Employment law reforms: non-compete clauses in employment contracts.
The government has recently announced that the retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill (or Brexit Freedoms Bill) will be scrapped.
This means that all retained EU laws on the statute books on 31 December 2023 will no longer be automatically revoked. Whilst this removes some uncertainty for employers, further changes are afoot. One such change relates to the use of non-compete clause in employment contracts. This article will look at the proposed legislation around non-compete clauses and how this might affect employers.
Legislation update
Three new Acts confirmed: (i) The Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act, (ii) Carer’s leave Act and (iii) Statutory Neonatal (Leave and Pay) Act
In January this year we reported on the potential new laws going through Parliament which included three government-backed Private Members’ Bills around protection from redundancy, carers leave and statutory neonatal leave and pay. On 24 May 2023, these Bills received Royal Assent and have passed into law. The government will lay down secondary legislation “in due course” to implement these new entitlements but a summary of the changes is set out here.
Checklist
Steps to take to help avoid discrimination, or the inference of discrimination during the recruitment process.
Finding the right candidate for a vacancy can be difficult as an employer not only needs a candidate with the required experience and skills, but also needs to find a candidate who is the right fit for the organisation.
Recruitment and interviewing for a new employee can give rise to a number of risks to a potential employer including discriminating against candidates. This checklist sets out the “do’s” and “don’ts” for the recruitment and interview process.
Case law review
With our checklist focusing on how to avoid discrimination in the recruitment process, the case law review this month looks at the case of Mohammed v Bloomsbury Bowling Ltd 2200410/2012 which demonstrates how things can go wrong if a company does not have a recruitment policy in place and inappropriate comments are made at interview.
Key current rates and limits 2023/2024
In April each year, employment related payments are generally increased. Key rates/limits for 2023/2024 can be found here.
How can we help?
Our employment lawyers at Edwards Duthie Shamash can offer specialist advice and assistance on all employment and HR related issues facing your business and we can help you navigate the ever-changing and sometimes complex employment rules and regulations.
Whether you have an internal HR team or not, we can offer practical and commercial advice on any employment or HR issues throughout the employment relationship, clearly setting out your options and the risks to the business.
We can assist in facilitating changes to your business to ensure it is adaptable to the current economic climate and retains profitability. We understand you simply want to get on with making your business sustainable and pursuing your strategic goals. We can take the strain out of the employment relationship by ensuring your business is legally compliant and allow you to focus on what you do best, growing your business and achieving your goals.
We can assist you with all aspects of employment from recruitment through to the termination of employment. If you have any queries on any of the information provided or need help with your HR/employment law issues for your staff, please contact us for a free initial discussion:
Fees and Charges
Details of our fee options can be found here.
We understand that you will need to be clear on the charges that you might incur when instructing a lawyer to assist you with HR/employment law issues. We are open and transparent about the fees we charge and we will provide a full and detailed estimate for any work we are instructed to undertake and will invoice you monthly or as otherwise agreed depending on the funding option.
The information/articles contained in this E-Bulletin are provided for guidance. It is provided for your information only and should not be used as a substitute for obtaining legal advice that it specific to your particular circumstances. It is strongly recommended that you seek advice before taking action.
