What are the key changes?
- When hiring non-regular employees, employers must inform them that they may:
- question differences between their employment terms and those of comparable regular employees; and
- request an explanation for those differences.
- Non-regular employees will need to be given access to certain benefits on the same basis as regular employees where continued employment can reasonably be expected.
- Although employers won’t have to provide identical terms to all employees they will need to be able to justify any differences in allowances or bonuses based on the employee’s role and the purpose of the payment.
- Employers will not be able to justify differences in treatment solely because an individual is a retired employee who has been rehired.
- Employers are encouraged to provide non-regular employees with ongoing training and development and consider opportunities for them to move into regular employment.
What should employers do now?
Employers can get ahead and prepare for the changes by:
- updating employment contracts and related documentation to explain non-regular employees’ rights to question and receive an explanation of differences in treatment;
- making sure the new information requirements are part of their standard recruitment and onboarding processes;
- ensuring HR teams are equipped to respond clearly and consistently to enquiries;
- identifying any differences between regular and non-regular employees that may not be objectively justified including benefits, allowances and bonuses;
- reviewing the terms offered to rehired retired employees; and
- considering whether appropriate training, development and routes into regular employment are available to non-regular employees.
If you require support, please get in touch with a member of the MDR ONE team.
