Workplace Rights If There’s A No Deal Brexit

Workplace Rights If There’s A No Deal Brexit

It is likely that you will have seen or heard that the Government published guidance on how to prepare for a no deal Brexit.

With a large amount of employment law stemming from Europe, what rights will remain and what will change with Brexit is a concern for many businesses.

According to the guidance, very little will change in a no deal Brexit. This is because some employment rights are already enshrined in UK laws. Those laws will simply be updated to reflect the fact the UK is no longer part of the EU.

Where rights come from EU law, the EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018 will bring those rights into UK law.

There are only two cases where the law will change and neither are likely to be common.

1. The first case will affect the rights of UK and EU employees working outside the UK in an EU county for a UK employer, where that employer becomes insolvent. At the moment such employees are protected by national guarantee funds in the country they are working in but whether or not this remains the case will depend on the EU country the employee is working in.
2. The second case concerns European Works Councils (EWC). No new requests to set up such a Council will be able to be made after Brexit. Requests made before Brexit will be allowed to complete and any existing EWCs will continue to operate.

From an employment law perspective, only UK businesses with EWCs need to take any action and that will be to review any EWC agreement given there may no longer be reciprocal arrangements in place between the UK and the EU.

This should come as a relief to businesses given the amount of uncertainty that remains around Brexit.

Sherbornes are intending to run a half-day seminar in February to provide a full update on employment law changes, including what’s expected following Brexit. 

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