Dave Gorton, Socialist Party member and NSSN communications officer
Rights from day one of employment is a simple demand deliberately made confusing by employers’ representatives to deter implementation. Why is it important?
When employment tribunals were extended to encompass unfair dismissal, a qualifying period was introduced before a case could be heard. The qualification means a worker has to have been in employment with that particular employer for a specific length of time before they can bring forward a case.
Originally it was six months, but the majority of the time since it has wavered between one and the current two years. Because employers know their staff can’t usually challenge unfair dismissals before this period is exhausted, the most unscrupulous can use it as a hire-and-fire mechanism, dismissing workers easily after, say, 23 months of employment. (There are exceptions, for example firings due to protected characteristics or whistleblowing).
To cover up the malpractices of some employers, business leaders claim they need ‘flexibility’ because some workers are unable to match the demands or skills needed to do a particular job. This is a smokescreen. Probation periods would still exist to ensure a match between workers and task is a good one, although employers can also abuse these so would need oversight by workplace trade unions. A worker not being kept on at the end of a probationary period is not legally a dismissal and means that worker doesn’t have the automatic right to representation from their union.
Many employers have shortened disciplinary procedures that allow them to sack workers more easily, based on the qualifying period. This is not just a ‘manager’s right to manage’ as employers like to term it, but an open door for outright abuse.
Rights from day one should be an intrinsic part of employment, of particular importance to parents, especially women, who may go through long periods in the labour market without ever reaching the two-year qualification. Pressure needs to be maintained by the unions on Starmer to ensure his pledge to introduce them isn’t watered down.
