UK: New “fire and rehire” rules

The UK government has announced new measures to address the use of fire and rehire practices, allowing employment tribunals to apply up to a 25% uplift in compensation for any unreasonable lack of compliance.

Why it matters: These new measures are important for employees and trade unions as they aim to crack down on mistreatment in the workplace and promote meaningful discussions to reach an agreed outcome.

The code has received criticism from TUC general secretary Paul Nowak, who argues that it lacks teeth and calls for stronger legislation to protect workers, highlighting the high prevalence of fire and rehire cases during the pandemic.

On a related note, unions and other groups are objecting to government plans to reintroduce tribunal fees for employment tribunals, which were previously abolished after a successful union judicial challenge.

The bottom line: The new code addresses fire and rehire practices, but there are concerns that it may not be sufficient to prevent employers from treating staff as disposable labor, while objections have also been raised against the reintroduction of employment tribunal fees.

Additional material:

Business Minister Kevin Hollinrake said the code “will crack down on employers mistreating employees and sets out how they should behave when changing an employee’s contract.” 

See here from Lewis Silkin LLP on the proposed new code.

Meanwhile, the Guardian reports that unions and other groups are objecting to government plans to reintroduce tribunal fees for filing cases with employment tribunals.