Employment Rights And Legislation Post-Brexit.
Employers of staff, including domestic and household, may well find post-Brexit, that the rights of employees in the UK differ from those granted to workers in EU Countries and to which we have all become accustomed. This could quite possibly impact any aspect of employment including tribunals and damages, to name but two.
The reason is that UK courts will not be bound by any decisions made by the ECJ (European Court of Justice) after Brexit, so could potentially ignore key employment rights decisions granted in EU countries in the future.
It is also uncertain if existing legislation will stand post-Brexit, as within the so called, Great Repeal Bill, (European Union (Withdrawal) Bill)‘ Henry VIII powers’ allows the UK to change laws with limited parliamentary scrutiny if they find any deficiencies in EU law as it is worked into UK legislation.
This is despite the fact that the Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) has confirmed that in terms of workers rights, the regulations derived through the Working Time Directive and the Agency Workers’ Directive will continue to apply after the formal leaving date.
It has also indicated that “where rights have been extended by CJEU (Court of Justice of the European Union), European Court of Justice judgments, those rights will continue to be protected in the UK once the UK has left the EU, with those judgments having the same precedent status as the Supreme Court’s own judgements”
Another issue among many, which may affect either you as an employer and/or your staff where they are not UK citizens, is their rights to stay and work etc. If a citizen of an EU member country were to arrive in the UK before Brexit takes effect, whether or not they would be able to stay in the UK, has not been agreed.
The bill is to be debated in parliament in the autumn, and the first step will be to repeal the European Communities Act, which gave the UK membership of the bloc in 1973.
The whole area is rife with with uncertainty and we will do our utmost to keep you informed with developments which may affect you as an employer of domestic staff.
The Graham Agency, keeping you informed.
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