UK financial firms plan to use Brexit to roll back employment protections for British workers
UK finance firms want to use Brexit as a good opportunity to roll back employment law protections for British workers, according to a new study by Law firm GQ Employment Law.
Of the 43 firms questioned, more than 70% said they wanted to wipe out rules allowing staff on long-term sick leave to roll over their holiday pay, and 65% said they wanted to see changes to discrimination and equal pay laws.
One in three companies are pushing for a cap on the amount employment tribunals can award people in discrimination and equal pay cases, and 56 per cent want the requirement to pay employees a sum of money for overtime during holiday to be reversed.
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Rolling over leave for people on long-term sick leave “can often be a burden”, according to the company which carried out the survey.
The employees have used the threat of uncapped damages, through a discrimination claim, as a way of forcing an employer to settle a claim, the law firm also said.
“The hope is likely to be that Brexit is seen as an opportunity to improve UK employment laws – making them as efficient, but also as fair, as possible to both employers and employees.” said Paul Quain, Partner at GQ Employment Law, cited by Independent.
“Whilst in the grand scheme of things employment law is unlikely to be a key area of focus, it will be interesting to see what changes are, in fact, introduced – and how these are received by the UK’s business community. Our survey suggests that employers accept that many of the employment laws in the UK provide a minimum level of rights for employees, so the Government would need to approach reforms with caution.” Quain pointed out.
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