Under the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, thousands of EU-derived provisions will be repealed from the end of 2023 except those the government has taken positive action to save.
The Employment Lawyers Association (ELA), comprising 6,000 lawyers, has highlighted that the Bill will strip away rights covering equal pay, maximum working hours, TUPE, health and safety, shared parental leave and the rights of part-time and fixed-term workers.
The Bill would erase principles derived from EU law, such as direct effect, supremacy of EU law and general principles of EU law. The ELA warns this will abolish important rights, including the right to normal pay during holidays, as well as removing the legal reasoning that has helped give gig economy workers protection from discrimination.
The ELA says the Bill potentially ends the automatic transfer provisions under TUPE, which would mean the UK reverting to the pre-1 May 1982 position of the transfer automatically terminating employment contracts.
Paul McFarlane, chair of the ELA, said: ‘The chaos, ambiguity and potential damage this Bill could do should not be underestimated.
‘It will decimate workers’ rights and leave both employers and employees in a state of profound uncertainty. Businesses will struggle to plan for growth, investment will drop and disputes and litigation costs will rocket.
‘It is also deeply worrying how this Bill will likely impact women specifically, as many of our laws which govern issues such as equal pay, parental leave and rights for part-time workers will be affected, and rights will disappear altogether.’
The ELA said it doubted the 31 December 2023 deadline gave the government enough time to consider the many laws, regulations and interpretive principles involved.
