Employment law stories in the news this week – 09.09.2013 to 15.09.2013

MoJThis is the first of a series of posts on stories that relate to employment law that have hit the news in the last week. Between 9 September 2013 and 15 September 2013 Nick Clegg made a pledge relating to the minimum wage, Guernsey plans to review its employment laws relating to redundancy and the third-party harassment laws in the Equality Act 2010 have been repealed from 1 October 2013

  1. Lib Dem conference: Nick Clegg in minimum wage tax pledge – Nick Clegg says he will push to ensure no one on the minimum wage pays income tax if the Lib Dems are in government after the next election. The Lib Dem leader said coalition government was good for the UK but did not indicate whether he favoured partnership with the Tories or Labour (BBC)
  2. Wetherspoon boss defends zero-hours after profits leap to £77m – The chairman of the pubs group Wetherspoon, Tim Martin, defended the group’s use of controversial zero-hours contracts yesterday, claiming that increased regulation would put up the price of a pint (The Independent)
  3. Guernsey States plans to review redundancy laws – People made redundant in Guernsey could get better protection in future after a government review. Guernsey has no redundancy legislation and the States had decided to focus on disability and maternity laws first (BBC)
  4. Ed Miliband to pledge crackdown on zero-hour contracts – Labour leader Ed Miliband is expected to put forward plans to outlaw the exploitative use of zero-hour contracts in his TUC speech. Hundreds of thousands of workers are on the contracts which allow employers to hire staff with no guarantee of work (BBC)
  5. Third party harassment provisions repealed from 1 October 2013 – With effect from 1st October 2013, the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (Commencement No. 3, Transitional Provisions and Savings) Order 2013 repeals the third party harassment provisions set out in S.40 of the Equality Act 2010 (EA 2010) (The HR Director)