"The education secretary has defended Labour's U-turn over offering all workers the right to claim unfair dismissal from their first day in a job. Instead, ministers now plan to reduce the qualifying period from the current two years to six months, in line with a deal agreed by some unions and industry groups. Bridget Phillipson told the BBC the climbdown was a "pragmatic" move to ensure "wider benefits" in Labour's employment rights bill could be delivered on time"
"Currently, after two continuous years in a job workers gain additional legal protections against being sacked. Employers must identify a fair reason for dismissal - such as conduct or capability - and show that they acted reasonably and followed a fair process. Under Labour's original plan, this qualifying period would have been abolished completely, with a new legal probation period, likely to have been nine months, introduced as a safeguard for companies."
Labour plans to cut the unfair dismissal qualifying period from two years to six months instead of granting day-one protection. The change is framed as a pragmatic compromise to ensure wider elements of the employment rights bill can be delivered on schedule. Current law gives additional dismissal protections after two continuous years, requiring employers to show a fair reason and a reasonable process. Labour had proposed abolishing the two-year threshold and introducing a legal probation likely around nine months, but business groups raised concerns about day-one rights deterring hiring. The government says the six-month measure will help unblock parliamentary progress after Lords votes.
Read at www.bbc.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]