While noting that the new government had said any legislation would not act as a barrier to fair dismissals, Ben Smith, Senior Associate, said the changes were “a significant shift in the employment law landscape – and, if implemented, would be something of a shock to many employers.”
“Currently, dismissals before two years’ service tend to be more straightforward but under these proposals, employers will much more frequently have to implement a more formal process to dismiss. Employers will likely have to implement time and resource-intensive processes at a scale that is radically different to the current status quo.”
Smith added that when coupled with proposals to double the time limit to bring claims to an employment tribunal to six months, the result could be an even more significant backlog of tribunal cases in a system already struggling with the post-Covid workload.
