With the legislation coming into effect imminently, People Management speaks to the experts about how workplaces should prepare
Pregnant women and new parents will receive greater protection from being made redundant under the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023, which will come into effect on 6 April.
Currently, parents on maternity, adoption or shared parental leave are protected from redundancy during the period of their leave. If there is a prospect of redundancy, then a suitable alternative job must be offered. Failure to do so could be automatic unfair dismissal and discriminatory. The protection ends either at the end of their statutory maternity leave or two weeks after the end of their pregnancy where there is no statutory leave.
But under the new Act, the window of time during which a worker is exempt will be extended to safeguard pregnant employees from the time they disclose their pregnancy to their employer until 18 months after the baby is born. It will also apply to employees returning from shared parental leave or adoption leave.
So what should employers know about the new legislation, and what can they do to prepare?
How can businesses prepare?
Chris Boyle, head of employment law at AfterAthena, tells People Management that organisations can prepare for these changes by reviewing and updating their HR policies, procedures and training materials to reflect the law’s requirements.
He adds that businesses should train managers to ensure that all levels of management are aware of the changes and understand how to apply them in redundancy situations, and implement early planning to mitigate the risk of non-compliance and the associated legal repercussions.
“Businesses need to be aware that the law extends the protected period for various categories, significantly impacting how redundancy processes involving new parents are managed,” Boyle says.
However, he says that, while the new rule does not completely prohibit the redundancy of existing employees, it does impose stricter criteria under which this might occur. “Employers must prove there are no suitable alternative vacancies and that the redundancy is not related to the employee’s pregnancy or maternity leave,” he explains, adding: “This makes it much harder to make pregnant women and new parents redundant, ensuring that their rights are protected during vulnerable times.”
Matt McBride, employment partner at Freeths, says: “Businesses will need to have processes in place so that when they are planning restructures and reorganisations that may result in redundancies, they know which affected employees fall into the protected pool.
“Up until now, that has been fairly easy as the protected employees have been those actually on maternity leave, who have been easy to identify. Once the new rules are in place, businesses will have to ensure that they identify in their planning those employees who are pregnant or who gave birth less than 18 months ago.”
Article written by Mahalia Mayne
Culled from people management’s website: Read fully story there.
