Back in 2019, the Employment Bill was announced in the Queen’s Speech.
The Bill was going to cover matters such as:
- the creation of a single enforcement body
- tips, gratuities and service charges going to workers in full
- workers getting the right to request a more predictable and stable contract after 26 weeks’ service
- redundancy protection to prevent pregnancy and maternity discrimination
- a new right to extended leave for neonatal care
- a week’s leave for unpaid carers
- making flexible working the default position
Fast forward to 2022, there was no mention in the late Queen’s Speech and the Employment Bill does not seem to have progressed. Whenever the government is asked, its response seems to be that the Bill will be progressed “when parliamentary time allows”.
MPs seem to have taken matters into their own hands. Back in May, twenty MPs were drawn in a Private Members’ Bills ballot to be able to put forward a Private Members’ Bill on a topic of their choosing. Of those twenty MPs, six chose to try and introduce legislation on employment- related topics. A number of those are linked to themes that were to be covered by the Employment Bill. Others are different. Those topics are:
- Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Bill
- Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill
- Employment (Allocation of Tips) Bill
- Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill
- Carer’s Leave Bill
- Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill
Private Members’ Bills can struggle to get support to get through Parliament. However, in the case of these six Bills all would appear to have received support from the government and are progressing through the House of Commons.
Whilst there is a long way to go in their progress, government backing of the Bills is significant and means that we are more likely to see them becoming legislation.
With that in mind, we’ll be taking a look at the main points of these Bills in a series of blogs so that you’re up to date on developments. We’ll also be updating you on the progress of another Private Members’ Bill, the Fertility Treatment (Employment Rights) Bill, about which we first wrote earlier this year.
Our focus for the first blog will be on the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Bill. Watch this space!
