Key employment and immigration updates | October 2024

On Thursday 10 October, the long-awaited Employment Rights Bill (the Bill) was published by the government, along with their Next Steps plan. The Bill contains many of the expected proposals from the Plan to Make Work Pay but some have been put on hold, including plans to introduce ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting and the “right to switch off” which we reported on in last month’s update.

It will be a while before any of the proposed changes in the Bill become law (if they do make it that far). However, the Bill does signal substantive changes to the employment landscape which businesses should be prepared for, including for example, the planned introduction of day-one unfair dismissal rights and enhancing the new preventative duty for sexual harassment, as well as stronger employee protections in relation to industrial action, fire and rehire, redundancy, zero-hours contracts and more.

To hear more about the proposed changes from Karen Bates, our Head of Employment, you can catch up on our recent webinar.

Since publication of the Employment Rights Bill on 10 October 2024, the government has launched consultations on the following:

• The application of zero hours contacts measures to agency workers. The deadline to respond is 2 December 2024.
• Creating a modern framework for industrial relations. The deadline to respond is 2 December 2024.
• Collective redundancy and fire and rehire. The deadline to respond is 2 December 2024.
• Strengthening statutory sick pay. The deadline to respond is 4 December 2024.

We would encourage you to respond to the consultations by the deadlines above. Alternatively, if you would like to send your thoughts on the consultations to Laura Tunks, Mollie Gascoigne and Harry Jupp, our team can prepare a response on your behalf.

On 26 October, the new proactive duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment came into force. In light of this new duty, late last month, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) published updated technical guidance on sexual harassment and harassment at work, as well as an 8-step guide for preventing sexual harassment at work.

The updated guidance confirms that the EHRC expects employers to take proactive steps to prevent sexual harassment from third parties (such as clients, customers and patients), as well as by workers. Whilst employees cannot currently bring a standalone claim in relation to third-party harassment, it is clear from the recently published Employment Rights Bill that the government intends to make employers liable for this type of harassment.

For a more detailed overview of the steps you should take to ensure compliance with the new preventative duty, please see our article. We are already working with our clients on a number of these measures including:

• Offering a standalone policy on sexual harassment at work and typically on a fixed fee basis subject to what is required;
• Designing and delivering bespoke, innovative training to all staff as well as more detailed training for front-line managers. We have a suite of different options to train all on what sexual harassment in the workplace looks like, what to do if one experiences or witnesses sexual harassment, and how to handle complaints. We can also train your people on preventing and addressing issues of third-party harassment; and
• Strategic transformation discussions to help you develop in this area.

Ask us how we can help you today by contacting Joanne Boyle, Mollie Gascoigne or your usual contact in the team.

On 1 October 2024, the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act (the Tips Act) and the statutory Code of Practice on distribution of tips came into force. Some of the key requirements which the Tips Act introduced are:

• Employers must fairly and transparently distribute all employer-received tips and some worker-received tips, to workers and eligible agency workers, without deduction.
• Employers must maintain a written policy on tipping and allocation unless tips are only received occasionally and exceptionally.
• A written record of all tips must be kept, and workers can request a breakdown of how tips are distributed every three months.

If tips are not distributed properly, workers will be able to bring an employment tribunal claim, including for unlawful deduction from wages. Therefore, if tipping is commonplace in your business, you should ensure that you have appropriate policies and procedures in place to ensure that you are meeting the new requirements of the Tips Act. If you’d like further information or help with putting these policies and procedures in place, do get in touch.

Visa application centres (i.e. where applicants provide their biometrics and supporting documents) are operated by commercial partners on behalf of UKVI. The change in commercial partners across multiple visa application centres is causing huge disruption as follows:

Applications made from inside the UK: the commercial partner for UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services changed from Sopra Steria to TLScontact on 15 October 2024. This change caused extremely limited availability in the weeks leading up to 15 October and has continued to cause huge disruption, with most biometric appointment slots not being available until mid to late November 2024. Applicants applying in-country, that need an in-person biometric appointment, must be warned of these delays and do their best to factor this delay into their timescales.

Applications made from outside the UK: between September 2024 and January 2025, the commercial partner will change from TLScontact to VFS Global in various locations. To find out the overseas visa application centres that will be affected, please see this link. Applicants must be careful to check which commercial partner they book their biometric appointment with and the address/opening hours of the correct visa centre.