The new government occupational health service will provide occupational health assessments and assist employees to return to work who have been absent for four weeks or more. It will be launched on a phased basis in late 2014 and is expected to be fully up and running by May 2015.
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From 31 July 2014  employers with fewer than ten employees may now directly consult affected employees in TUPE cases where there are no existing appropriate representatives and the employer has not invited election of representatives.
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A recent preliminary EU decision establishes that while there is no general principle of EU law prohibiting discrimination on grounds of obesity, severe or morbid obesity might fall within the definition of “disability” if it hinders a worker from full and effective participation in their professional life on an equal basis with other workers.   This matches the previous views of a UK Employment Appeal Tribunal decision on the same point.
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The right to request flexible working has been extended to all employees with at least 26 weeks’ continuous service (with effect from 30 June 2014). Previously the right only applied to certain parents and carers. The new duty requires employers to deal with flexible working requests in a reasonable manner within a three-month decision period.  The previous prescriptive procedure has been abolished.
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The maximum  penalty which may be payable for illegally employing adults who are subject to immigration control, but do not have the right to work in the UK, rises from £10,000 to £20,000 on 16 May 2014 (contraventions that happened solely before that date are not affected).  At the same time statutory codes of practice for employers on preventing illegal working and also avoiding unlawful discrimination while preventing illegal working take effect.
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From 6 May, it becomes compulsory for a claimant  to notify ACAS of an intended tribunal claim before presenting an employment tribunal claim form.  ACAS early conciliation also becomes compulsory from 6 May 2014.
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For TUPE transfers that take place on or after 1 May the time period for a transferor to provide employee liability information to a transferee increases from 14 days before the transfer to 28 days before the transfer.
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The past year has been full of changes in employment law, and this spring is no exception. Many changes come into force in April – we have summarised the key April changes for you below, as well as including a reminder about some other important recent and upcoming changes. Statutory Pay Increases SMP is paid for 39 weeks of maternity leave as follows: –     For the first 6 weeks, SMP is paid at 90% of the employee’s normal weekly salary. –     For the remaining 33 weeks, SMP is paid at either the lower of 90% of the employee’s normally  
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For dismissals on or after 6 April 2014 the maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal will rise from (i) the lesser of 52 weeks’ pay or £74,200, to (ii) the lesser of 52 weeks’ pay and £76,574. The maximum amount of a week’s pay, used to calculate redundancy payments or various awards including the basic award of compensation for unfair dismissal will rise from £450 to £464.
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Employers have been able to reclaim Statutory Sick Pay from HMRC, where the total SSP paid in a month exceeds 13% of their Class 1 National Insurance Contributions for that month.  A draft Order abolishing the scheme is going through Parliament and  is expected to take effect on 6 April 2014.
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