Law at work - hot topics

Report shows increasing trend of national minimum wage underpayment

The Low Pay Commission has made recommendations for enforcement as it publishes its second national minimum wage non-compliance and enforcement report.

The report found that 439,000 workers were paid less in April 2018 than the hourly minimum wage to which they were entitled.

Of those, around 369,000 were entitled to the national living wage (which should be paid to workers aged 25 and over, and is currently £8.21 per hour): an increase of around 30,000 on those who were not paid the national living wage the year before.

The Low Pay Commission recommends that the government should:

• continue to communicate to workers and employers around minimum wage compliance and enforcement
• work with trade unions to understand the current barriers to reporting
• work with Acas, trade unions and other bodies to build confidence in the complaints process, including case studies and guidance
• produce further guidance for employers, which will simplify enforcement in the longer term.

European Parliament agrees proposals on whistleblower protection and transparent working rights for workers

The European Parliament has now been dissolved until after the elections, but before that made important progress on new EU-wide rules in two areas:

Whistleblowers

New laws will guarantee a high level of protection for whistleblowers across the EU.

Although the proposed directive will apply to breaches of EU law, including anti-money laundering and taxation, data protection, food and product safety and environmental protection, member states are free to extend these rules to other areas and the European Commission encourages all member states to establish comprehensive frameworks for general whistleblowing protection based on the same principles of clear reporting procedures, safe reporting channels, and prevention of retaliation.

In January 2019 the UK government suggested that the law was due to come into force on 15 May 2021 and that "This means that as things currently stand the UK would not have to implement the proposal, either in the case of "no-deal" or of a negotiated exit where the implementation period is not extended beyond 31 December 2020.

"However, we considered last time that the UK may either have to align with the proposal as part of the core labour or competition provisions of an EU-UK free trade/other agreement or may choose to do so as part of the Prime Minister's commitment to build on workers' rights after the UK's exit from the EU."

Transparent predictable working rights in the EU

The European Parliament has agreed a proposal for a directive on certain minimum rights for workers, including casual and temporary workers and platform workers in the gig economy. The directive will not apply to the truly self-employed.

The new rights include a day one right to a statement of particulars of employment (including reference hours for those on unpredictable contracts) and a limit on probationary periods of six months.

Workers with on-demand contracts should be able to refuse assignments outside their core hours without consequences, or be compensated if it is not cancelled in time by the employer, and should not be prevented from taking jobs with other companies outside the agreed work schedule.

Member states will have three years to put into practice the final directive once passed. Some of the requirements will already be law in the UK by the time the directive comes into force – for example, workers in the UK will be entitled to a day one statement of particulars from April 2020. It is unclear whether the ban on exclusivity clauses will go further than the existing UK in this area.

The extent to which any EU legislation will apply to the UK will depend on the relationship of the UK and the EU after Brexit.