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On 22 September 2022, the UK Government published the Retained EU Law (Repeal and Reform) Bill 2022. Under the bill, all retained EU law will be repealed on 31 December 2023 (the sunset date) or on the 23rd of a later date. Unless concrete steps are taken to maintain it until June 2026 (the ten-year anniversary of Brexit).
Affected Law
The bill will affect approximately 2,500 regulations of twenty-one government departments, including the following major pieces of legislation related to employment law:
- Working Time Regulations 1998;
- Agency Workers Regulations 2010;
- Part-Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favorable Treatment) Regulations 2000;
- Fixed-Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favorable Treatment) Regulations 2002; And
- Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE).
The scope of the legislation captured by the Bill means that it could affect most, if not all, businesses in the United Kingdom. The bill gives Parliament broad powers to decide which laws should stay and which should go (or, at least, be amended).
Although it is likely that much of the current legislation will be reinstated or amended rather than repealed, some changes to United Kingdom employment law can be expected in the coming years. Given that the Bill proposes to sunset EU-derived secondary legislation and retain direct EU law until 31 December 2023—a date fast approaching—Parliament may not have sufficient time to fully consider and consult on the legislation affected by the Bill. can As such, the sunset date can be extended to 23 June 2026.
Considerations for employers
Given the relatively early stage of the bill—the Public Bills Committee completed its work on 8 November 2022—the scope of the proposed amendments is not yet clear. However, once new legislation is introduced to remove, replace or amend EU-derived legislation, employers may wish to revisit their policies and provisions to reflect the requirements of current legislation, bearing in mind that some provisions in the contract may have been included and that consent is required to amend the employee agreement. Therefore, employers may want to start considering how to include wording in contracts that will reflect any updates to the law in the coming years.
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