The Giftware Association has received news from its HR experts Greenshoot HR about changes to employment law from April. Please read below to see if your company has been affected.

Employment Law Changes - April 2020

From the 6th April 2020 the following changes will comeinto force:

Statement of 'written particulars' - what we refer to asour contract of employment

•           must beissued to employees and workers on or before day one

•           note thatthis applies to workers (casuals/zero-hour) too

•           yourtemplates may need changing – as they now need to contain:

• the hours and days of the week the worker /employee is required to work,whether they may be varied and how
• entitlements to any paid leave
• any other benefits not covered elsewhere in the written statement
• details of any probationary period
• details of training provided by the employer

Reference period for calculating average pay 

•           currentlythis is 12 weeks but is increasing to 52 weeks

•           will affect the calculation ofholiday pay where you have seasonal workers, people doing regular overtime totheir contractual hours, or having regular bonuses or commission

Do you use agency workers

•           opt-out ofthe 'Swedish Derogation' will be abolished

•          the impact of this is that after 12weeks the cost of an agency worker may increase

Parental bereavement leave and pay

•          if an employee unfortunately suffers astill birth or the death of a child, they will be entitled to two weeks leaveat a statutory pay

•             there will be certain rules around this - so ask an HR professional should it happen - hopefully it never will

If you would like more information in reference to these then please contact Karen Kirby from Greenshoot HR on karenkirby@greenshoot.co.uk