On 1st October 2014, several changes to employment law were introduced which employers should be aware of. These are:
1. The National Minimum Wage hourly rate was increased to the following levels:
- £6.50 workers aged 21 and over;
- £5.13 for workers aged between 18 and 20;
- £3.79 for young workers aged under 18 but above the compulsory school age who are not apprentices; and
- £2.73 for apprentices. Employers will be required to adjust their remuneration levels accordingly.
2. A new provision in the Equality Act 2010 (Section 139A) now gives Employment Tribunals the additional power to order employers to carry out equal pay audits. This power will be used following a successful claim where the employer is found to have been in breach of equal pay law or where they have discriminated on the basis of gender in non-contractual pay, unless one of the exceptions in the Equality Act 2010 (Equal Pay Audits) Regulations 2014 apply.
3. Expectant fathers, or the partner of a pregnant woman, will be entitled to take unpaid time off work to accompany the mother to antenatal appointments on as many as two occasions.
4. The Defence Reform Act 2014 will amend s.108 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and will remove the 2 year minimum qualifying period of employment required to bring a claim for unfair dismissal, if the reason for that dismissal is the employee’s membership of a reserve force.