As you may have seen, People Management recently published an article on some of the big developments in employment law in 2017, particularly Brexit and the Taylor review. The discussion featured Michael Bronstein, a partner here at Dentons. Michael gave some insight on the potential effects of withdrawing from the EU on employment legislation, acknowledging that there is 'a common misconception that all employment rights are created by the EU'. In the lead up to triggering Article 50, the government maintained that there would not be any change to workers' rights following Brexit, so it would be brave to take away key protections, many of which derive from UK law anyway. Other commentators suggested there may be reforms to TUPE, although agreed that it will stay, but perhaps in a slightly amended form. As for a new visa regime for workers, the outcome is unclear. The uncertainty has already caused many workers to leave at a time where we are beginning to see a shortage of labour. This has not been helped by the recent leaked Home Office post-Brexit Immigration Policy which has confirmed the fears of employers with respect to the future of EU workers in the UK.

The article also gave commentary on the Taylor review and the clarity it provides for the future of employment status. The review, which considers the implications of new forms of work on worker rights and employer freedoms, was described as 'commendable but aspirational'. There still seems to be uncertainty in relation to the categorisation of workers and at which point one is sufficiently subordinate to be a worker rather than self-employed. Although the categorisation remains unclear it is apparent that, due to an increase in less traditional business models such as Uber and Deliveroo,  it is necessary to have more certainty as to who qualifies for employee rights.

The People Management article can be accessed here: http://www2.cipd.co.uk/pm/peoplemanagement/b/weblog/archive/2017/08/23/legal-roundtable-we-are-the-law.aspx

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