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25 March 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.

Steen & Co Employment Solicitors will be monitoring the developments in this area of law and will provide information as and when more details are known. For more information please contact us via any of the methods set out on our contact us page.