Workers’ rights Bill ‘step forward’ says Government as it urges against changes

A Bill giving workers in the UK more rights has been hailed as a “major step forward” by the Government, as it told MPs not to back proposed changes by the House of Lords.

Business Secretary Peter Kyle said the Employment Rights Bill, which he is now leading through the Commons after the resignation of Angela Rayner, represented an updating of safeguards for workers, with improvements on zero-hours contracts, unfair dismissal and access to sick pay.

Mr Kyle said the Government had accepted changes over bereavement leave and non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), further improving powers for employees.

He added that the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats had joined together to try and water down the legislation.

The Tories said the proposed changes, including giving workers the right to take their bosses to tribunals on day one, would make employers less likely to take a chance on young employees, or those with disabilities.

Speaking in the Commons on Monday evening, Mr Kyle said: “This is a landmark Bill. It is pro-worker and pro-business, which supports the Government’s objectives to boost growth and improve living standards across the country.”

He continued: “We have listened throughout the Bill’s passage, and we’ve made meaningful changes where needed including on bereavement leave and non-disclosure arrangements.

“We will continue to listen in relation to further work to be undertaken when implementing the Bill. The Employment Rights Bill is a major step forward, modernising protections and delivering on our commitment to make work pay.”

He later said: “I’m asking the House to renew its commitment to this legislation, asking honourable members to endorse the Government’s amendments which seek to clarify, strengthen a number of measures, and to reject amendments put forward by the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrat peers who have joined forces to undermine the progress that we are attempting to make.”

The changes the Government is making to its Bill include broadening entitlement to bereavement leave.

Under the Bill, employees will have the right to bereavement leave from day one of any job.

An amendment from the House of Lords extends it to include mothers who have lost babies before 24 weeks.

Mr Kyle said he would draw on personal experience of loss. In 2012, his partner and mother died within a few days of each other.

“Bereavement is not an illness or a holiday, and it needs its own special category,” he told MPs.

“I have been very open about by own experiences with grief and loss. I feel very strongly that people need time away from work to grieve.

“No-one who is going through the heartache of pregnancy loss should be worrying about work. They must be able to take time to recover.”

Mr Kyle also said the Government was committed to ending the use of NDAs for victims of sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying.

They will remain in place to “protect legitimate business interests”, he added.

“The new clause will allow workers to speak freely about their experiences and allow those who have witnessed misconduct or have knowledge of it, to call it out by avoiding NDAs which have been used to try and silence victims,” he said.

Conservative shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith said the Bill could lead to more young people being without a job.

He said: “(The amendments have) a core purpose of stopping this country slipping into the rates of youth unemployment seen in other European countries. Where getting a first chance feels more like a lottery than a smooth passage into the workforce.

“Those opposite often like to cast themselves as the party of social mobility, but the reality is, if you remove probation periods, the chance for an employer to take a chance on somebody, you will kill social mobility.”

He added: “What’s going to happen is that businesses will be discouraged from hiring anybody without a perfect CV, anyone without a proven track record of work.

“Who are we talking about? We are talking about young people, we’re talking about people with conditions such as dyslexia and we’re talking about those who’ve got a period of inactivity in their CVs, people such as former prisoners seeking a second chance to go straight.”