Welcome to the Summer edition of Employment Matters: our round-up of the latest developments in employment law and the key issues affecting employers and HR Professionals.
In this edition, with Labour's General Election win, we examine their extensive manifesto pledges to change employment law, including their commitment to introduce an Employment Rights Bill within the first 100 days of Government.
The new employer duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment is due to come into force this October. Employers need to be ready to demonstrate that they have taken concrete and positive steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. A failure to do so will be costly both financially and to the reputation of the employer's business. Our article explores the new regime and highlights the practical steps employers should be taking now to get ready.
With AI becoming increasingly integrated into recruitment and employment processes, understanding the employment implications of harnessing AI is critical. We are delighted to present our new 'AI in the Workplace' series of articles, which considers the issues for employers to bear in mind.
Employee competition is a strong theme in this edition, which three articles covering different scenarios. Firstly, we look at what employers should do when an employee steals its confidential information. Our next article sets out the key steps to take to protect your business and enforce post-employment competition restrictions when an employee artificially manufactures a constructive dismissal situation. Our third article then considers the use of "departure lounge" clauses, also known as "waiting room" clauses in partnership agreements, LLP members' agreements, and shareholder agreements.
Last, but definitely not least, we also focus on incentives issues. Liz Hunter, Partner in our Incentives team explores why businesses might want to boost employee ownership participation, especially if they have a people-centric culture and are striving for inclusivity and profit with purpose. Liz also separately discusses a change in UAE company law which could open the doors to tax-advantaged incentives for UK companies with a qualifying UAE subsidiary.