- 25 Oct 2024
- •
- 2 min read
Employment Alert - Unfair Dismissal
What’s happening?
As part of the Employment Rights Bill, the government has announced its plan to remove the two-year qualifying period that employees currently need in order to bring an ordinary unfair dismissal claim. This will give every employee the right not to be unfairly dismissed from day-one of their employment.
An employee will not be afforded this protection if their contract of employment is withdrawn before their start date. Nor will the change prevent employers from being able to fairly dismiss their employees during the statutory probationary period, which is also set to be introduced, provided a ‘fair and transparent’ process is adopted (the details of this are yet to be confirmed).
Further details including how the ‘lighter touch and less onerous dismissal procedure for those in their statutory probationary period’ will work are expected once the government has completed a consultation process.
Why is this important?
This reform will strengthen individuals’ employment rights. It will become much harder for employers to dismiss their staff in the first two years of their employment, which it is estimated will benefit an additional 9 million employees.
The government is emphasising the importance of probationary periods with the introduction of a statutory minimum period which is intended to be an opportunity for both the employee and the employer to assess whether the job is a good fit.
Please note that the government has released a fact sheet confirming that the unfair dismissal reform will not come into force until autumn 2026.
What should you do?
Stay Tuned: Keep an eye out for more of our Legal Updates that will be published over the coming weeks with more detail on each of the reforms.
Webinar: Trethowans are holding a free webinar on Tuesday 5 November which will highlight the key changes. Please click the below link to sign up to attend this webinar.
Advice: If you require advice relating to the Employment Rights Bill, please contact [email protected] who will put you in touch with someone from our Trethowans Employment Team.
