Breaking away from the EU means Britain has the freedom to repeal EU employment laws. A pertinent one, and one that is expected to be reversed, relates to workers accruing holiday time during long-term sick leave.
EU regulations have stipulated that workers on long-term sickness absence could carry over their holiday entitlement into the next holiday year and possibly beyond. But it’s a rule that the U.K. is fully expected to overturn as it breaks away from the EU, says Miller Hendry.
Likewise, commission-based employees who, under EU law, were able to factor their commission payments into holiday pay calculations, could face a change to the law. Miller Hendry predicts that this, too, will return to a UK directive which does not factor in commission.
Alan Matthew, employment law expert at Miller Hendry, said:
“As the U.K. looks to put together new rules surrounding employee rights, this is one that will have workers left in the dark for some time. For a long time, holiday pay has been a minefield for employers. It will return to being a minefield in a post-EU world, at least in the short term. That has a negative impact on employees as they wait to see where they stand as regards long-term sickness absence and holiday pay. The same goes for rules surrounding commission-based workers and whether or not they their holiday pay calculations take commission into account.
“On the flip side, British firms and their HR managers are going to have more freedom to draw up rules that perhaps suit them more than the EU regulations did. And we should remember that none of this is imminent. It’s going to take years for the changes to happen, and there are undoubtedly going to be some EU employment laws which will remain. So there will by no means be a complete employment law overhaul.”