Editor’s note: In addition to the recent ‘mini budget’ announced by Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, a piece of legislation announced on 22 September 2022 promises to stir the waters of controversy in the UK.

The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill 2022-23 proposed that all direct EU legislation implemented in the UK, as well as EU-derived law be abolished effective from December 2023. Should this bill pass, it would have a significant impact on many pieces of legislation in the UK. There is no current proposal to implement replacing legislation or to review the existing legislation which the UK wishes to retain, which makes the impact of the bill even harsher than expected.

What employment legislation is affected by this bill?
Many of the UK’s laws have been introduced directly as a result of EU directives. Key examples of this include the Working Time Regulations, derived from the Working Time Directive, as well as the Agency Workers Regulations, the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations and the Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations.

Some other important areas of employment law affected are trade union law, which is extremely topical now due to increased strike and industrial action, and the TUPE Regulations. The TUPE Regulations protect thousands of workers in the UK each year when they are being transferred from one employer to another, or from one service provider to another.

There is further doubt about whether important principles founded from case law will be applicable. A key example of this is the recent Harpur Trust v Brazel decision, which interpreted parts of the Working Time Regulations. Here, the Supreme Court made a landmark decision on how holiday pay should be calculated for part-year workers. One main question for parliament will be how case law should be treated following the introduction of the Retained EU Law Bill and whether cases such as Harpur Trust v Brazel will have the same binding effect on lower courts, as well as employers.
 
What legislation is not affected?
While there will be some initial panic that all the UK’s employment provisions will be scrapped, this will not be the case. The Equality Act 2010 is a UK-derived piece of legislation, and therefore the UK’s discrimination laws should be preserved. Fundamental parts of the Employment Rights Act 1996 will largely remain in place, apart from those sections which are solely derived from EU directives.

What do we expect to happen?
The UK’s lawmakers will not be able to leave the country without some of the most important pieces of employment legislation on working time, trade union law, and treatment in relation to part-time and fixed-term workers. This bill could provide the government with an opportunity to review which parts of EU legislation should still apply, as well as which elements need some fundamental review. In turn, we expect that there will be announcements in relation to the proposed measures that the government will make to mitigate the harsh effect of the Bill.

Paul Chamberlain is partner and head of employment at JMW Solicitors, Manchester.

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