Employment (Amendment) Bill 2023
In summer 2022 the Department for Enterprise published consultations on family leave rights, whistleblowing and zero hours contracts which set out proposals for new rights and legislative changes.
The Employment (Amendment) Bill 2023 was introduced to the House of Keys for its 1st Reading on 27 June 2023. The Bill seeks to amend the Employment Act 2006 to introduce a number of these changes.
The changes are:
Family leave rights
- The right to time off work to accompany a partner to antenatal appointments, for adoption appointments and to take care of dependants in emergencies;
- The right to shared parental leave;
- The right to parental bereavement leave (including in cases of miscarriage and stillbirth.
Whistleblowing
- The introduction of a public interest test;
- The introduction of vicarious liability to prevent detrimental treatment of whistle-blowers by other employees on behalf of an employer;
- Removal of the requirement that a disclosure be made in good faith;
- Provision to make clear that a protected disclosure has been made;
- Power to make regulations to require prescribed persons to report on whistleblowing cases;
- Power for interim relief.
Zero hours contracts
- The introduction of the provision to make a right to a written statement of employment terms and conditions a ‘day one’ right.
The Bill and the Explanatory Notes are available on the Tynwald website.
In addition, to aid consideration of the Bill the following documents have been prepared:
If you would like any further information about the Bill, or have any questions, please contact:
Steven Tallach
Legislation Officer
Department for Enterprise
Tel: 01624 685375
Email: steven.tallach@gov.im
