With the 2009 Conservative Party conference taking place in Manchester this week, and a general election looming, XpertHR looks at the employment law changes that an incoming Conservative Government might make.
Could, for example, a Conservative Government (or any other new Government for that matter) change the qualifying period for unfair dismissal (reduced from two years to one in 1999), or exclude certain groups of employees (those employed by small businesses perhaps) from the right to claim unfair dismissal? And what about that key part of the Labour Party’s 1997 manifesto, the national minimum wage?
A lot depends, as we explain in our article on the employment law areas on which an incoming Conservative Government might focus [subscription required to read full article], on whether a particular change would require primary legislation (an Act) or could be done by statutory instrument - and whether or not the current legislation stems from Europe.
Although our guidance is based on informed speculation rather than definite policy proposals - keep up to date with Personnel Today news for those - it takes into account indications about Conservative policy on the areas discussed and considers how easy it would be for a new Government (of any political persuasion) to change the current rules and the mechanisms that could be used. The areas covered are:
- Primary or secondary legislation required?
- Europe and the social chapter
- Equality law
- The Equality and Human Rights Commission
- Trade unions and industrial action
- Individual employment rights
- The national minimum wage
We’ll be continuing our consideration of this issue in the next XpertHR Outlook video. To sign up for the monthly video or view existing videos visit the XpertHR Outlook videos page.
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