HR Expert: Key Employment Law 2018

2017 was a busy year for employment law and your clients would have had to come to terms with a number of different issues, from including normal voluntary overtime in holiday pay to assessing whether their dress code was sexist.

A number of key changes will take effect in 2018 whilst some areas will continue to be impacted by decisions from last year. Here’s an overview of what your clients can expect in 2018:

• The number of tribunal claims your clients are facing is likely to increase. The removal of fees in July 2017 has already contributed towards a 64% increase in single claims during July – September 2017, compared to the same quarter in the previous year. Your clients may find themselves increasingly facing the risk of their employees, or ex-employees, bringing a claim against them to enforce their rights or resolve a complaint as there is no longer a financial barrier to do so.
• Your clients will need to assess how they process their employee data to ensure they are not breaching the new General Data Protection Regulation. The new data protection laws will come in to force on 25^th May 2018 and these seek to increase the rights of employees and place more obligations on employers who process data. Your clients need to be aware of the new rules as the financial penalty for a data protection breach will be significantly higher from May.
• National Minimum and Living Wage are set to increase in April, with pay for those aged 25 and over rising from £7.50 to £7.83 per hour. Due to increasing awareness, and targeted enforcement by the HMRC, your clients need to ensure they are correctly paying their staff at least the legal minimum and are applying the new rates from April. A failure to do so could see them facing a substantial fine or being publicly named and shamed by the government.
• The protection of caste discrimination may be finalised in 2018. The government has been considering how to protect against discrimination on the grounds of caste, specifically whether current case law provides this protection or if a newly protected characteristic should be inserted into the Equality Act. A consultation closed in September 2017 and the response is awaited.
• The government will release their long-awaited response to the Matthew Taylor review on ‘Modern working practices’ early this year. The review made a number of key recommendations, including introducing legislation to make determining employment status easier, having an increased minimum wage for those without guaranteed hours and introducing penalties for those employers who ignore tribunal decisions.