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Understanding the Impact of Brexit on Employment Law: A Brief Guide

By May 18, 2023Employment

Brexit has undoubtedly brought significant changes across various sectors, and employment law is no exception. On 10th May 2023, the Government announced several employment law measures, in aid of economic growth and cost-cutting – which we have summarised below:

Removal of the sunset cause

The government has announced that the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill’s sunset provision will no longer be used.

Under the current Bill, unless a statutory instrument is passed to maintain it, practically all EU law will be automatically repealed at the end of 2023 (the sunset clause).

This is being changed, and as a result, unless specifically repealed, EU law will continue to be enforceable in the UK. The Bill will be amended to include a list of the retained EU laws that the government plans to repeal on 31st December 2023. However, any laws that are not on that list will stay in effect.

Working Time Regulations

The government aims to change these Regulations this year, and will be consulting on ideas such as:

Removal of retained EU law requirements that force businesses to keep track of the working hours of nearly every employee.

Introduction of rolled-up holiday pay (currently unlawful) so that workers, typically those engaged on a casual ad hoc basis, can receive their holiday pay with every payslip.

The merging of the current two separate leave entitlements into one pot of statutory annual leave. At present the UK entitlement is 4 weeks while an additional 1.6 weeks is derived from the EU to create the total statutory minimum of 5.6 weeks holiday, but the current distinction has implications, such as in relation to carry over rights.

TUPE

For organisations with less than 50 workers and transfers impacting fewer than 10 employees, the Government will consider on eliminating the obligation to elect employee representatives for the purpose of TUPE consultation, allowing businesses to engage directly with the affected employees and simplifying the process.

Non-compete clauses

The government has also considered that although non-compete clauses can help safeguard organisations that invest in their employees, overly onerous non-compete clauses are now a standard element of employment contracts. These clauses restrict a departing employee from working in competition with the employer for a period of time.

The government believes this may prevent workers from looking for jobs with higher compensation and restrict capacity for healthy business competition. Therefore, the government plans to pass legislation limiting non-compete agreements to three months, which will be introduced “when Parliamentary time permits.”

If you would like any more information about the impact of Brexit on Employment Law, please contact a member of the Employment Team at employment@glaisyers.com.

Mohurije Masoom

Author Mohurije Masoom

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