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Employment law & HR legislation effective already

EHRC updates guidance on discriminatory adverts

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has published updated guidance, reminding employers that placing or publishing a discriminatory advert is unlawful under the Equality Act 2010.

Examples include adverts using job titles or descriptions for job vacancies, such as waitress or postman, and those published in a particular language, or requiring proficiency in one or more languages.

If the ability to speak those languages is not a genuine requirement for the job, the guidance highlights that it’s not unlawful to address disadvantage by encouraging groups who share a protected characteristic to apply for vacancies.

Code of Practice on Dismissal and Re-engagement Part 1

The new Statutory Code of Practice on Dismissal and Re-engagement, or ‘fire and rehire’, has been in force since 18 July 2024.

Dismissal and re-engagement is the practice of forcibly changing terms and conditions by dismissing the employee and re-engaging them on the new terms.

The code sets out the principles it expects employers to follow and encourages a greater level of consultation.

The government has now re-issued the code to include a sentence that had been included in the draft version.

It states that; when issuing the new terms to an employee, the only terms that should be changed are those which the employee has been consulted about. No other changes should be made.

Code of Practice on Dismissal and Re-engagement Part 2

Not to complicate things – Labour has committed to end the practice of "fire and rehire" as a lawful way to change an employee’s contractual terms.

This would include reforming the law to provide effective remedies against abuse and a strengthened statutory code of practice in place of the one being brought into force by the current government on 18 July 2024.

Labour have highlighted three potential areas for change on fire and rehire including:

Improving information and consultation procedures, to make employers consult with their workforce and reach agreement about contractual changes.
Adapting unfair dismissal and redundancy legislation to prevent workers being dismissed for failing to agree to a worse contract.
Ensuring that notice and ballot requirements on trade union activity do not inhibit defensive action to protect terms and conditions of employment in situations where an employer is using fire and rehire tactics.

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Improving Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace

An independent ‘Inclusion at Work’ panel, appointed by the government, issued a report on improving diversity and inclusion (D&I) in the workplace.

The panel’s recommendations are that:

The government endorses a new framework (outlined in recommended framework for D&I success) which sets out criteria employers might apply to their D&I practice, for effectiveness and value for money.
The government funds, and works with, a research partner to develop a digital tool similar to the Education Endowment Foundation’s ‘Teaching and Learning Toolkit’. This will allow all leaders and managers in every sector to assess the rigour, efficacy, and value for money of a range of D&I practices. It will also ‘nudge’ commercial or activist providers of interventions to evaluate and prove impact.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) explains and clarifies the legal status for employers in relation to D&I practice, with particular focus on the implication of recent rulings for HR policies and staff networks.

The panel recommended that the EHRC clarify organisations’ legal duties and responsibilities relating to philosophical and religious belief, and that it commits to regularly updating guidance to ensure that employers understand how to apply the positive action provisions of the Equality Act 2010.

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Recruitment and the use of AI

Everywhere you look, there’s AI! Adopting these tools in HR and recruitment processes offers to provide automatic and simpler processes, leading to greater efficiency, scalability, and less room for human error.

Nevertheless, usage of such technology also poses serious risks to security, existing biases, and discriminatory advertisements.

The Department for Science, Innovation & Technology has issued a new guidance document on ‘Responsible AI in Recruitment’. It provides guidance for employers to help mitigate the ethical risks associated with using AI as part of recruitment and hiring processes and comply with relevant legal requirements, including the government’s AI regulatory principles.

The guidance focuses on ‘assurance mechanisms’ for organisations to use when procuring AI systems from suppliers and when deploying AI in the organisation.

These mechanisms include completion of impact assessments, risk assessments and bias audits, creation of an AI governance framework within the organisation, and different types of testing of the AI systems.

The guidance also breaks down these assurance mechanisms by reference to the different stages of procuring and deploying AI, providing suggested questions for the organisation to ask itself at each stage.

New workplace standards for menopause and menstruation support are launched

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The British Standards Institute (BSI) has published a new workplace standard titled ‘BS 30416, Menstruation, menstrual health and menopause in the workplace‘, it recognises the challenges, symptoms and experiences of both menopause and menstrual health and how these can affect women in the workplace.

BS 30416 is a free, practical toolkit for businesses of all sizes and sectors. Developed by experts in the field of menstruation, menopause, HR and occupational health and academics, it aims to help organisations identify the misconceptions around menstruation and menopause. It also identifies the impact of stigma surrounding these topics on workplace cultures and support.

The standard helps businesses to take action to make their workplace more inclusive. It contains examples of actions and adjustments that can improve employees’ wellbeing. Examples include:

Physical aspects of work
Policy guidance and practices
Supportive workplace cultures
Work design
Inclusivity
Evaluation and metrics