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This article was published on May 13th, 2015
We like to keep you up to date with any changes to employment law….
Shared Parental Leave
For parents of children born or matched for adoption on or after 5 April 2015.
Parents can choose how they share the care of their child during the first year after birth. Mums can still take the initial two week following the birth and then they can opt to end the maternity leave or parents can share the remaining leave as flexible parental leave. The husband, civil partner or partner has the right to unpaid time off to attend up to 2 antenatal appointments.
Managing sickness absence
Free occupational health assistance for employees, employers and GPs is to be introduced during 2015 via a health and work assessment and advisory service. After four weeks of sickness absence the service can provide an occupational health assessment to help manage sickness absence.
New statutory pay rates
Statutory pay for maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave will increase to £139.58 per week.
Statutory sick pay (SSP) rate has increase to £88.45 per week
Statutory adoption leave and pay
The statutory adoption leave no longer has the 26-week qualifying period.
Adoption pay is now the same as maternity pay, which is 90% of normal earning for the first six weeks.
Parental Leave extended to 18
The right to unpaid parental leave is extended to parents of any child under the age of 18 years.
Surrogate parents eligible for adoption leave
Parents who have a child through surrogacy are permitted to take ordinary paternity leave and pay, adoption leave and pay and shared parental leave and pay provided they meet the eligibility criteria. Both parents are entitled to take unpaid time off to attend two antenatal appointments.
New limit for redundancy pay
The limit for a week’s pay when calculating redundancy pay has increased to £475.
New compensation limits for employment tribunal awards
For basic unfair dismissal, the limit for a week’s pay has increased to £475 when calculating compensation. The maximum compensation amount has increased to £78,335.
For further details on all employment law procedures and HR advice please contact our specialist employment solicitor Mark Bestley on 01625 507571 or 07825 081 856 or email him at [email protected].
