A series of amendments to the Employment Rights Bill (ERB) were agreed by the House of Lords, which the House of Commons will now consider.
A key amendment, concerning day-one unfair dismissal rights was replaced by a six-month qualifying period. That would mean a change to the current qualifying period for unfair dismissal from two years to six months. When the Bill goes back to the House of Commons the amendment could be rejected which would mean, ‘day-one’ rights could still go ahead with some complex conditions on the initial period of employment, which could be longer than six months.
Other amendments include:
- Guaranteed hours have will now be a “right to request” instead of a “right to have”.
- The reasonable notice period for changes to shifts will be deemed as 48 hours outside of usual working patterns
- A definition of “seasonal work” will be introduced, which the government must now consider when making regulations
- Reinstating the 50% threshold required for trade unions to vote for industrial action
Responding to the amendments, the CEO of the British Retail Consortium, Helen Dickinson said: “The House of Lords has listened to our concerns, putting forward positive, practical and pragmatic amendments to the Employment Rights Bill which would help to protect the availability of valuable, local, part-time and entry level jobs up and down the country. To ignore these suggested changes when the Bill returns to the Commons would undermine the Government’s own plans to get Britain working again as fewer flexible, part-time jobs will be available.
Dickinson added “But there is further to go. Even with these amendments accepted, retailers remain worried about the consequences for jobs from other areas of the Bill. There must now be a much more strategic dialogue between employers, unions and government, to collectively find solutions that will work for everyone.”
The Bill will now return to the House of Commons for consideration of the Lords’ amendments ahead of a final agreement.
