The Election 2010
The election has been called and no one will have failed to notice the three main parties have gone into campaign overdrive. It is nigh on impossible to drive to work without passing campaign billboards sporting either Cameron or Brown’s smiling face, switch on the television without catching a party political broadcast, or pick up a newspaper without immediately being drawn to a story focusing upon the most eagerly anticipated election for a generation.
The relevant manifestos have been published and while the employment law policies might not feature heavily in a voter’s decision-making process, the policies make interesting reading to anyone involved in employment law and/or HR.
The Conservatives
In a similar vein to much of Cameron’s electoral campaign, the Conservatives are critical of Labour’s influence on employment legislation in the preceding thirteen years. The Conservatives suggest the labour market has become over-regulated which has restricted the ability of businesses to compete, and in fact put off some employers from employing workers. The Conservatives are mooting a flexible labour market in which the balance between employer and employees is redressed. They have even gone as far as to suggest they might introduce a “one-in one-out” system for legislation.
All three main parties including the Conservatives, have pledged to extend the right to request flexible working to include all parents of children under the age of 18. The current regulations apply to parents with children under 17 or disabled children under 18, or certain adults who require care. However, they have also confirmed they do not intend to allow all parents to request flexible working, as this would be an unfair burden on employers.
Interestingly, the Conservatives have also proposed increasing the limit for deposits to be paid by a claimant at an Employment Tribunal and increasing the limit on cost awards, in an effort to discourage weak or vexatious claims.
They would also introduce a variation to the system of parental leave, whereby parents were allowed to share maternity leave after the mother had taken the first fourteen weeks. This proposal may include an ability for both parents to take leave simultaneously.
If Cameron wins an outright majority he will be our next Prime minister. If this occurs, he has promised to reduce red-tape and regulation in the hope this will stimulate the economy, and free the hands of employers - watch this space.
Labour
If the Labour Government were to secure a further term this would no doubt result in a steady increase of further employment related legislation. The Labour campaign appears to place more emphasis on flexibility and fairness as opposed to the flexibility promised by the Conservatives. On 8 April 2010, arguably the most significant piece of employment legislation from Labour’s thirteen year tenure, came into force. The Equality Act has received limited media attention and this may be due to the fact that the majority of its provisions do not come into effect until October this year. If Labour remain in power provisions including socio-economic duty, equal pay audits and positive action will be introduced reflecting Labour’s push for fairness for workers. However, if the Conservatives are elected these particular provisions will not be brought into force.
A Labour Government would also extend the right to request flexible working to include parents of children under the age of 18, but under Labour, only mothers would be entitled to parental leave in the first twenty-six weeks following the birth of a child as opposed to the fourteen weeks proposed by the Conservatives.
If Gordon can avoid further trips to Rochdale he may cling on to his throne, and if so we can expect to see the introduction of further legislation and in Labour’s view a fairer labour market.
Liberal Democrats
The Lib Dem’s proposals for dealing with employment legislation are not as far reaching as the Tories’ suggestion of “one in, one out”, but they too have felt the need to manage the introduction of further employment legislation.
Of the three main parties, the Democrats have the most radical proposals with regard to requests for flexible working, which they envisage extending to all employees, not just parents and carers. The party has suggested that the current system leads to dissatisfaction among other staff and negative connotations with regard to flexible working.
The Liberal’s proposals for maternity leave are similar to those of the Conservatives in that paternity leave would take the place of maternity leave in a singular system, allowing parents to share twelve months leave between them in whatever way they elected.
One of the Democrats more interesting proposals would be to name.-blank job application forms, so that the name of the applicant is not revealed, in an attempt to prevent discrimination occurring from the outset of the job application process. Instead, application forms and CVs would use an alternative method of identification such as a National Insurance Number. This proposal is in response to research showing it is more difficult for candidates with an ethnic name to receive a positive response from an employer, than an English named candidate.
One place where the Liberals and Labour find common ground in contrast to the Conservatives, is with regard to their policy of increasing National Insurance contributions, whereas Cameron has said he will stop the increase altogether for anyone earning under £35,000. Clegg would of course counter this with his proposal of not taxing anyone earning less than £10,000.
If the election results in a minority Government, Clegg might be able to secure the implementation of some of his policies in brokering a deal for a coalition. If so, his tactic of disagreeing with both of his main rivals on different policies will be reflected in his de-regulation of legislation and an increase in the rights of employees.
If come 7 May 2010 we have a hung parliament and a coalition between Labour and the Lib Dems we are likely to see a slight curbing of the introduction of further regulation and an increase in the rights of employees.
If you require advice on any employment related matter please contact either James Twine on 01752 292351 or Eoin Fowell on 01752 292350.
