Events

New Legislation, New Problems for Employers in 2008

Employers have almost become punch drunk with changes introduced by legislation during the last 10 years. So the fact that the pace of such change is maintained in 2008 should be no surprise. What statute based problems await businesses this year?

From 6 April 2008 , the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004 will apply to employers with at least 50 employees. The Regulations presently only cover employers with 100 or more staff. This change means that many more UK employers may have to put in place information and consultation agreements dealing with how they will consult their workforce on economic and employment-related matters.

Senior management in smaller businesses with, say 60 or 70 staff may find it difficult to accept that they could be forced to inform and /or consult staff on commercial issues where they believed that decision making was completely at the unfettered discretion of the management team. This could include issues such as the launch of a new product, developments in technology and changes in senior management. Decision makers will not welcome the inevitable delays in implementing commercial proposals. They may be nervous about sharing with the workforce sensitive information to justify their desired strategic approach.

Smaller businesses are unlikely to be ready for this new approach.

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 will be coming into force on 6 April 2008 . It creates a new offence of corporate manslaughter, being gross negligence committed by companies and other organisations.

A company commits an offence if the way in which its activities are managed or organised causes a person's death and amounts to a gross breach of a relevant duty of care owed to that person. The prosecution must prove that a substantial element of the breach of duty is down to way the organisation's senior management managed or organised its activities.

This only goes to emphasise the importance of having proper and regular training systems in place for management and indeed all staff.

Temporary and agency workers may enjoy the principle of equal treatment with directly employed staff if the Temporary and Agency Workers (Equal Treatment) Bill becomes law. Businesses with temporary or agency workers may have to think again about the benefits of taking on such workers instead of directly employing staff as the demarcation lines between the two categories of worker become blurred.

It's not all bad news for employers this year, though. The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Bill is expected to come into force in late 2008. This legislation ought to be welcomed by employers. It will introduce a centralised vetting system for people working with children and vulnerable adults. Businesses and organisations will be able to make a 'real-time' instant check of whether a prospective employee is barred with secure online access rather than the current paper-based process.

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