February 16th 2024
By Ailsa Colquhoun
New employment legislation
Two pieces of GB-wide employment legislation come into force from 6 April 2024:
Hempsons solicitors offer some guidance to the regulations
Maternity Leave, Adoption Leave and Shared Parental Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024
- Workers taking this kind of leave must be offered any suitable alternative employment in a redundancy situation
- Protection is for 18 months from either the expected week of childbirth or the placement for adoption
- The protected period can be changed in certain circumstances
- New protections will apply to pregnancies disclosed to the employer on or after 6 April 2024, and any maternity, adoption and shared parental leave ending on or after 6 April 2024
Carer’s Leave Regulations 2024
- Employees will have a ‘day one’right to make a flexible working request when previously they needed 26 weeks of qualifying service.
- Employees can make these requests in any 12-month period
- Employees can take a minimum of one half working day at a time
- Requests can be for consecutive, or non-consecutive, half-days or full days
- Employees must give notice, at least twice the amount of notice than the period of leave requested. Or, if longer, three days’ notice
- An employee can bring an employment tribunal claim if their employer has unreasonably postponed, prevented or attempted to prevent them from taking carer’s leave
It is recommended that employers create or update relevant policies and provide written notice to employees of their rights to aid understanding and to help the process to be followed properly.
