Employment Law Changes - October 2011
Legal Articles
Add an article Back to Articles
21 October 2011
Employment law will face many changes this
month. Some of these changes may benefit employers and some may benefit
employees, although it is important for both to keep up to date with
the law. the changes are as follows:
Retirement Age
As of 1 October 2011, the national default
retirement age no longer applies. Before employers were able to force
employees aged 65 to retire without the threat of having to pay
compensation. Now, if an employee is dismissed due to their age they
may have a claim for direct discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.
Agency Workers Regulation
Changes also came into force on 1 October
for agency workers under the Agency Workers Regulation 2010. The change
gives agency workers the same protection as employees under a contract
of employment after a 12 week qualifying period.
National Minimum Wage
1 October 2011 also saw changes in the
national minmum wage. The following changes were implemented:
- The minimum rate for workers aged over
21 is £6.08 per hour
- The minimum rate for orkers aged 8-20 is
£4.98 per hour
- The minimum rate for workers aged 16-18
is £3.68 per hour
- The apprenticeship rate for apprentices
aged 19 for the first year is £2.60 per hour
Aneela Akbar can be contacted at
aneela.akbar@lawdit.co.uk
About the Author
Lawdit
Solicitors offer services and advice for litigation,
commercial contracts, Intellectual Property and IT legal agreements. We
are experts in commercial law with a heavy emphasis on Intellectual
Property, Internet and e-commerce law. Lawdit is a member of the
International Trademark Association, the Solicitors' Association of
Higher Court Advocates and we are the appointed Solicitors to the
largest webdesign association in the world, the United Kingdom Website
Designers Association.
