New laws protecting employees are to be introduced in the Employment Relations Bill currently going through Parliament.
The new rights centre upon three different areas: individual rights, collective rights and family friendly policies. On individual rights, the main changes will affect unfair dismissal protection. Employees will be able to bring a claim for unfair dismissal if they have only one year’s employment as opposed to two years. If successful, employees will benefit from an increase to the limit on unfair dismissal compensation from £12,000 to £50,000. Workers will also be entitled to be accompanied to disciplinary and grievance hearings by a trade union official or fellow worker. This will apply even if a union is not recognised by the particular employer.
