Last December, the Government set out what it claimed to be the biggest package of workplace reforms for 20 years after having failed to appeal to voters who are “just about managing”.
Legislation now imposes fines for employers who have deliberately victimised their staff and give workers details of their rights from the first day in their job.
The reforms plan to stop the unfair use of pay between assignment contracts, which allow businesses to opt out of equal pay arrangements for agency employees. Measures will also be taken to ensure that seasonal workers get the paid time off they are entitled to.
However, the reforms won’t do anything for people on highly controversial zero-hours contracts - where an employer don’t have to offer work and an employee has no obligation to work when asked. This is a missed opportunity to rebalance power in the “gig economy”. The reforms, covered in a report called the Good Work Plan, are based on the recommendations made by Matthew Taylor in his review into employment, especially in the so-called gig economy.
The Government has pledged to implement 51 of Taylor’s suggested 53 reforms. Legislation will be introduced to give workers details of their rights from the first day in a job, such as eligibility for sick leave, pay levels, maternity and paternity leave.
The maximum employment tribunal fines for employers demonstrated to have shown malice, spite or gross oversight will increase from £5,000 to £20,000.
The Government is also committing to legislate to improve employment status tests to reflect the reality of the modern working relationships. Despite calls, the reforms won’t ban zero-hours contracts, in keeping with Taylor’s recommendations, because that would “negatively impact” more people than it helped.
These proposals do nothing to tackle the growing number of people on precarious zero-hours contracts and with Brexit looming accessing the employment rights will be a major concern for many Brent residents and workers.
So, the new initiative by the Brent Community Law Centre will go some way to help residents to understand their rights and challenge employers. Brent has 33% of households living in poverty and 32% of employees earning less than the London Living Wage – a higher rate than any other borough except Newham. Private rent is very expensive relatively to local low earnings – only Kensington & Chelsea, Westminster and Camden have more expensive lower quartile rent compared to lower quartile salary. With low earners spending so much on housing, it is not surprising that people are struggling. Therefore, measures which offer protections for agency workers and heavier fines for malicious employers will help to redress these issues.
