Autumn employment changes checklist

The following changes in employment legislation came into force in October:

• The amended Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002 which ensure that agency workers on contracts of less than three months will be entitled to receive statutory sick pay.

• The amended regulations on statutory sick pay which will reduce the amount of information that employers are required to provide to employees for social security benefit purposes.

• Rights of women on maternity leave to the same contractual terms and conditions (except wages) throughout the entire maternity leave period (previously not all terms and conditions applied during additional maternity leave).

• The right to request flexible working by the carers of adults.

A good source for further information on employment legislation is the ACAS website at www.acas.gov.uk