As a business owner, from 1st April 2019 there will be Employment Law Changes you need to know about and get your business ready in time.
We recently highlighted the changes to National Minimum Wage which take effect from 1st April 2019 but what about other legal changes?
Gender Pay Gaps
From 4th April 2019, businesses must publish gender pay gap reports. Businesses in the private sector (250 employees or more), must have published their gender pay gaps by 4th April 2019. For public sector organisations, this needs to be done by 31st March.
Statutory Sick Pay
Statutory sick pay will increase on the 6th April and the minimum sick pay that you need to give to staff who are ill will increase from £92.05 to £94.25 per week.
Sick pay is paid once your employee is too ill to work for four days or more and an employer needs to pay this for up to 28 weeks.
The lower earnings limit which is the average that an employee has to earn to receive these payments, rises from £116 to £118 on the same date.
Pension contributions
6th April 2019 will also see a rise in pension contributions. Depending on your pension scheme, employees will be required to put at least 5% of their pre-tax salary into their pension. Employers contributions will also rise from 2% last year to 3% this year.
Payslips
There are two important changes affecting pay slip information which will come into force on 6th April 2019.
Payslips must be given to all workers. Previously, you only had to give payslips to employees, but every worker will now require a payslip.
In addition, every worker will require a detailed payslip which will need to include the total numbers of hours worked where the pay varies according to the hours worked, for example, under variable hours or zero-hour contracts.
Failure to do so could result in a dispute or tribunal which could be costly to your business if you are found to have breached your workers’ rights.
Maternity, Paternity, Adoption and Shared Parental Leave
The minimum pay which employers will need to give to staff on maternity (SMP), paternity SPP), adoption (SAP) or parental leave will increase to £148.68 per week from 7th April 2019.
The lower earnings limit which is the average that an employee has to earn to receive these payments, rises from £116 to £118 on the same date.
Employment Tribunals
The Government’s ‘Good Work Plan’ which was published in December 2018, made a commitment to increase the penalties for employers who do not comply with employment law.
Any employment tribunal can be costly and from 6th April, tribunals can now force non-compliant employers to pay a maximum, £20,000 penalty for repeatedly breaching employment laws.
Time For Changes
There is still time to make changes to your business in time for April but if you need support or expert advice to check that you’re meeting your legal obligations, contact us today.
