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The government has decided to remove its primary proposal from the employee protections bill, substituting the safeguard from wrongful termination from the start of employment with a half-year qualifying period.

Industry Apprehensions Prompt Change in Direction

The decision comes after the corporate affairs head told firms at a major conference that he would listen to apprehensions about the effects of the law change on employment. A labor union insider commented: “They have backed down and there might be additional to come.”

Negotiated Settlement Achieved

The Trades Union Congress said it was willing to agree to the negotiated settlement, after days of talks. “The absolute priority now is to secure these protections – like day one sick pay – on the statute book so that employees can start profiting from them from the coming spring,” its general secretary commented.

A worker representative added that there was a perspective that the 180-day minimum was more feasible than the vaguely outlined nine-month probation period, which will now be abolished.

Political Reaction

However, MPs are expected to be concerned by what is a obvious departure of the ruling party’s election pledge, which had promised “first-day” security against wrongful termination.

The current business secretary has succeeded the previous minister, who had overseen the bill with the second-in-command.

On Monday, the secretary committed to ensuring companies would not “suffer” as a consequence of the changes, which encompassed a restriction on flexible work agreements and day-one protections for employees against unfair dismissal.

“I will not allow it to become zero-sum, [you] favor one group over another, the other suffers … This has to be implemented properly,” he stated.

Bill Movement

A union source suggested that the modifications had been accepted to enable the bill to advance swiftly through the second house, which had greatly slowed the act. It will lead to the qualifying period for unfair dismissal being shortened from 24 months to six months.

The bill had earlier pledged that duration would be abolished entirely and the government had put forward a more flexible trial phase that businesses could use as an alternative, capped by legislation to 270 days. That will now be removed and the law will make it not possible for an employee to pursue unfair dismissal if they have been in position for less than six months.

Union Concessions

Labor organizations insisted they had achieved agreements, including on financial aspects, but the move is expected to upset leftwing lawmakers who viewed the worker protections legislation as one of their primary commitments.

The legislation has been altered repeatedly by other party members in the Lords to accommodate key business requirements. The minister had declared he would do “what it takes” to resolve legislative delays to the act because of the upper house changes, before then consulting on its implementation.

“The industry viewpoint, the voice of people who work in business, will be considered when we examine the specifics of enforcing those crucial components of the worker protections legislation. And yes, I’m talking about non-guaranteed work agreements and immediate protections,” he commented.

Rival Reaction

The critic described it “another humiliating U-turn”.

“They talk about stability, but govern in chaos. No firm can strategize, invest or recruit with this degree of unpredictability affecting them.”

She added the legislation still included provisions that would “hurt firms and be harmful to prosperity, and the critics will fight every single one. If the government won’t abolish the most damaging parts of this flawed legislation, we will. The nation cannot achieve wealth with more and more bureaucracy.”

Official Comment

The responsible agency stated the outcome was the result of a compromise process. “The ministry was satisfied to enable these discussions and to showcase the merits of cooperating, and remains committed to further consult with labor organizations, business and employers to make working lives better, help firms and, importantly, realize prosperity and good job creation,” it stated in a statement.