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15 January 2020

What to expect from Employment Law in 2020

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Tom Martin Senior Solicitor

As the dust settles on the start of a new year, and indeed a new decade, we take a look ahead to what key changes will be made with regards employment law in 2020. We'll discuss the following:

  • IR35

  • Written Statement of Terms

  • Holiday Pay Calculations

  • Personal Bereavement Leave

IR35

The off-payroll working rules are set to be rolled out to the private sector from 6 April 2020. This will mean that where medium and large businesses (clients) engage contractors to perform services through the contractor’s own personal service company, the clients will have to determine whether there is “deemed employment” between them and the contractor for IR35 purposes. If that is the case, and the client pays the contractor directly, then they will have to account for tax and NI.

Given the possible financial implications, business who engage contractors in this way should be undertaking an assessment with regards these working relationships to ascertain whether or not they will be caught by these new rules. We are holding a number of seminars on IR35 and in particular these new changes in February across our office locations. Further details can be found on our website.

Written Statement of Terms

Currently, only employees who have been employed for more than one month are entitled to receive a written statement detailing their terms of employment. This must be provided within two months of their start date.

From 6 April 2020 however, all employees and workers are entitled to receive a written statement of their employment terms from day one of their employment. This therefore extends to all bank staff and casual workers, who may not ordinarily have been provided with detailed statements. It also means ensuring that a contract is in place before someone starts employment. This statement must also now include more information, including in relation to working patterns and training.

Holiday pay calculations

Hopefully all of you are now aware of the changes made to the calculation of holiday pay over the past couple of years. These introduced requirements that normal remuneration for the purposes of a day’s holiday pay should be calculated by averaging the employee’s pay over the previous 12 weeks. This should take account of any regular overtime, commission and other payments linked to performance of their contract.

As of 6 April 2020, the reference period for making the calculation will increase to 52 weeks in order to allow for a fairer calculation, balancing out anomalies such as seasonal work.

Parental Bereavement Leave

It is expected that the provisions in the Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act 2018 will come into effect in April 2020. This would allow for two weeks of leave to be taken by any parent who has suffered the loss of a child under 18 or a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy. Parental Bereavement Pay will be available to those employed continuously by their employer for over 26 weeks. The leave will be unpaid for those who do not have the required service. This legislation is not yet in force, and so this could change.

If you require any advice, or have any concerns in relation to these changes, please do not hesitate to contact one of our employment law experts.

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