Recent employment law developments
A number of important changes to employment law were introduced in April which are likely to necessitate changes to your employment practices and documents, including:
- On 1 April 2009 the final staged increase in statutory holiday entitlement to 5.6 weeks (being 28 days for someone working five days a week) came into force;
- On 5 April 2009, the standard rates of statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay increased to £123.06 per week.
- On 6 April the dispute resolution provisions of the Employment Act 2008 came into force, which sees the introduction of a new ACAS code of practice for handling grievance and disciplinary matters and also repeal of the statutory grievance, disciplinary and dismissal procedures;
- On 6 April, the right to request flexible working was extended to parents of children up to and including the age of 16;
- Also on 6 April 2009, the standard weekly rate of statutory sick pay increased to £79.15.
For more information on these changes and other employment law issues in 2009 please refer to On the Agenda - Employment Issues for 2009 and Changes being introduced by the Employment Act 2008
Mark Shulman
Partner, Employment
