Employment law outlook
08/01/2010
By Susanna Gilmartin, Partner in Employment. Featured in Personnel Today.
Questions:
- What do you see as the stand-out employment law change, or new regulations, that will come into effect in 2010?
The Equality Bill which is expected to come into force from October 2010.
- What ramifications will it have for employers?
Particular proposals to watch out for will be introduction of the concept of indirect disability discrimination, the obligation on companies employing over 250 people to publish details of how they pay male and female employees and making it harder for employers to justify less favourable treatment of employees.
- What one change, in 2010, will be of little significance to employers?
The right for employees to request time off for training. As companies do not have to pay the employee while they attend the training and can refuse the request if the training does not benefit the business this is unlikely to have any major impact for employers.
- If you could wish for one regulation to be abolished in 2010 what would it be?
Something to abolish before it is brought in - the Information Commissioner's call for prison sentences for breaches of the Data Protection Act. Responsibility for DPA is already a hugely onerous job for anyone to undertake in a company - this proposal would scare anyone witless!
- What was, in your view, the most important ruling of 2009 and – in one sentence – why?
Heyday - finally some clarity on the statutory default retirement age which has caused too much uncertainty for employers and employees alike for too long.
- And what was the most over-rated/over-hyped ?
The decision in Stringer v HMRC which this left many employers worried about huge payouts for accrued holiday pay for sick employees. The reality is that for most the financial ramifications of this decision will not be so dramatic.