New Employment Laws to come into force April 2005

A considerable amount of employment legislation will come into force on 6 April 2005. This includes new provisions relating to pension protection, trade union recognition and statutory maternity pay.

Some of the main changes include:

Employment Relations Act 2004: the majority of the remaining provisions come into force, including improved protection from suffering a detriment for employees taking lawful industrial action and new protection for employees absent on jury service.

Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004: these Regulations set out minimum rights for employees to be informed and consulted by their employers in respect of a number of workplace issues. The Directive will apply to all undertakings with 150 or more employees from 6 April 2005. In the Regulations, ‘undertaking’ is defined as ‘a public or private undertaking’ carrying out an economic activity , whether or not operating for gain.

Statutory Maternity Pay (General) and the Statutory Paternity Pay and Statutory Adoption Pay (General) (Amendment) Regulations 2005: ensure that, for the purposes of calculating entitlement to these three types of pay continuity of employment is not affected by reinstatement or re-engagement following a dispute resolution procedure.

Statutory Maternity Pay (General) (Amendment) Regulations 2005: provides that mothers away on maternity leave benefit from pay rises awarded during their absence.

National Minimum Wage Regulations 1999 (Amendment) Regulations 2004: give ‘output workers’ a more generous minimum wage based on the calculation of a ‘fair’ piece rate.

Pensions Act 2004: employees subject to a TUPE transfer will be entitled to have an occupational pension scheme provided by the transferee employer. The change introduces a minimum level of pension protection for employees involved in TUPE transfers where they had access to an occupational pension scheme pre-transfer.