
Four key changes in employment law - 1st October 2014
UK employment rights are amongst the weakest in Europe and are being further eroded by the government. We defend decent conditions at work including basic equalities by our collective organisation but we seek to use any legal avenues open to us. For a change, the four changes set out here can help or work; they into force on 1 October 2014:
1. Expectant fathers, or the partner of a pregnant woman, will be entitled to take unpaid time off work to attend antenatal appointments with their partneron up to two occasions.
2. An employment tribunal will have the power to order employers to carry out equal pay audits where they have been found to have breached equal pay law, or to have discriminated because of sex in non-contractual pay, unless an exception applies.
3. The National Minimum Wage hourly rates will increase to: (i) £6.50 for the adult rate; (ii) £5.13 for the youth development rate (for workers aged between 18 and 20); (iii) £3.79 for young workers rate (aged under 18 but above the compulsory school age who are not apprentices); and (iv) £2.73 for apprentices
4. The Defence Reform Act 2014, will amend S.108 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 so that there is no minimum qualifying period of employment to bring a claim of unfair dismissal if the reason is the employee's membership of a reserve force
Find out more about Unite and equalities here: http://www.unitetheunion.org/unite-at-work/equalities/