The local elections last week appeared to show that we are very likely to have a Labour government after the general election, which has to take place by 28 January 2025.  Labour published a green paper on the changes they want to make to employment legislation back in 2021, entitled ‘A New Deal for Working People’.  I therefore thought it would be useful to look at what the changes may be, considering Labour has promised to introduce the changes within 100 days of them coming into office.

What are the changes that Labour may bring into force?

Here is a summary of the main changes that may happen:

• Abolish ‘employees’, having only workers and the self-employed, with workers getting all employment rights that employees currently enjoy;
• Unfair dismissal rights for workers from day one of employment, with no cap on compensation;
• Abolishing ‘fire and rehire’ completely;
• Introduce the ‘right to disconnect’, i.e. workers will have the right to turn off work computers and phones off outside of their working hours so employers cannot contact them;
• Strengthening collective bargaining rights for workers;
• Making zero-hour contracts totally unlawful;
• Equal pay rights for disabled workers; and
• Directors being personally liable for tribunal awards if an employer fails to pay.

It may be the case that not all of these proposals will actually come into effect and there may be others.  We do not also know all of the detail behind the proposals.  For example, with the right to disconnect, there may, of course, be exceptions (in fact, practically in some types of jobs, there will have to be) and the consequences employers may face for breaching the right are not known.

Here at ViewHR, we will keep you up to date with any developments in these proposals and, if Labour are in government after the general election, what changes are actually brought in with legislation.  It will certainly be an interesting time for HR professionals and employment lawyers.