We’re kicking off with the ‘top 10’ employment law developments you need to be keeping an eye on over the next 12 months…we know how to party!
1 – ChatGPT and AI – the appropriate usage of chatbots and AI tools at work should be high on everyone’s agenda. There’s loads of benefits to explore, but plenty of potential risk. We’ve added a new policy to Intelligent Employment as a starting point to help you manage boundaries.
2 – Brexit – we’ll need to keep an eye on whether any further employment laws will be listed for repeal following the government announcement that all EU-derived law will remain unless expressly removed. We also await further detail on changes to the Working Time Regulations and changes to TUPE consultation.
3 – Non-compete clauses – we await the legislation that will provide all the detail on the proposal to limit non-compete clauses to just three months.
4 – Neonatal care leave – a new right to allow up to 12 weeks of paid leave for eligible parents whose newborn baby is admitted to neonatal care.
5 – Unpaid carer’s leave – another new right to provide a week of unpaid leave to employees who are caring for a dependant with long-term care needs.
6 – Extended redundancy protection – extending protections for those on maternity, adoption or shared-parental leave to cover pregnancy and an extended period after they return to work.
7 – Flexible working – we await further detail on a bill proposing a day-one right to request flexible working arrangements.
8 – Predictable T&Cs – a new right to request more predictable terms and conditions (largely aimed at zero-hours workers).
9 – Mental health first aid – a bill is progressing through parliament aiming to make mental-health first aid part of physical first-aid training requirements within businesses.
10 – Equal pay – high-value claims against big high-street names (such as Next) continue to work their way through the courts. If successful we could start to see even more appetite for litigation.
