The four key changes to employment law coming into force on 1 October 2014 are as follows:
Expectant fathers, or the partner of a pregnant woman, will be entitled to take unpaid time off work to attend antenatal appointments with their partner on up to two occasions (see our 23 September Legal Development Alert for further information).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 (see our 25 September Legal Development Alert for a summary).
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. 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 (see our 12 September Employment Law News Update for further details).
