Employment law affects ALL businesses...not just larger ones!
Cathy Dunbabin
Passionate about connecting business professionals and encouraging the development of strong, solid relationships and exciting collaborations and opportunities.
Each month at the Business Spa we support, motivate and mentor small business owners in Oxfordshire, addressing many of the issues they face, encouraging them to grow and become more successful. We love hearing from professionals, like Rebecca Woolmington of HR Central, who shares with us her expertise about employment law as we know it affects many of us.
Upcoming employment law changes to be aware of as a small business and an employer of choice.
Some of the promises made in the Government’s Good Work Plan last year will strengthen workers rights in some areas. for you to retain your employees it will help to be aware of these common sense management and payment issues.
Here is a whistle stop tour of some of the proposed changes that may affect you as a small business owner.
Parental leave and pay
New and expectant mums, and employees who have adopted or who are partaking in shared parental leave, will soon have better protection against being made redundant until six months from the date they return to work. The redundancy protection period will also apply from the point they inform the employer they are pregnant.
The government has acknowledged shared parental leave works differently to maternity and adoption leave in that it offers more flexibility around when the leave can be taken. The government are considering this when designing how protections can be implemented.
Parents of babies in neonatal care could receive neonatal leave and pay for as long as their baby is in hospital. One of the final consultations discussed as part of Theresa May’s government is seeking views on whether the rights should be targeted at the parents who are most in need of the additional time off work, such as those whose children have spent a minimum of two weeks in hospital or are most seriously ill; the consultation is considering whether this right should be from their first day of employment or after a qualifying period. Payment terms are yet to be decided.