There is much concern as to whether the UK might face big changes to our employment law following our exit from the EU. It is a fallacy that most UK employment law comes from the EU, the UK has often been streets ahead of our EU partners in protecting the rights of UK employees. We had discrimination legislation before we joined the EU in 1975, our maternity protection laws are significantly better than those in the EU and UK employees get more annual leave than in Europe.
We already know that the protection of employees is set to change for the better from April 2020 when it will become a legal obligation to provide a Statement of Terms & Conditions of Employment on Day 1, eliminating the current 60 day grace period.
Once we leave the EU we will, presumably, no longer be bound by employment case law coming from the European Courts but the impact on many employers will be relatively small and most will not even notice the change.
Pundits are saying we can expect changes to TUPE and potentially the implementation of a cap on compensation in discrimination cases. If you are getting good HR advice you should not be getting discrimination claims and TUPE will remain the enigma it has always been to most employers and many HR professionals.
So please don’t worry. But do take the time to find out how you can continue to employ EU nationals and what the implementation of Settled and Pre-Settled Status might mean for those on your pay roll.
Interesting times we live in