Delusions about employment law
The government has announced more consultation on employment law, this time on TUPE and collective redundancies. Both sets of legislation derive from EU directives.
In our last blog, we looked at whether we are in fact over-regulated and over-legislated.
a) Assumption: in the UK we retain the power to repeal legislation
The thing most politicians don’t seem to grasp is the very limited extent of manoeuvre we have, even where we want to repeal legislation. A significant amount of UK legislation relating to employment is the implementation of EU Directives. Short of leaving the EU (which is another discussion) we do not have the power to say “let’s not have any legislation about this”.
We can take out any additional burdens imposed at UK level but we can’t abandon the whole thing. If we want to live in an unregulated employment environment, we need to leave the EU. Otherwise, we need to learn to live with a regulated environment.
We can lobby at EU level for changes to laws, even the abolition of laws, but in a large group of countries, our view will not automatically be adopted (even if we have one national view to present).
The only way forward for an individual employer is to live with things as they are and make the best of that. Lobbying may work in the longer term, but we need to stop deluding ourselves that all this ‘law’ is going to disappear by magic of governmental pen.
I talk to clients quite regularly who say – “this shouldn’t exist”, “this shouldn’t be happening to me”. A successful business strategy has to be founded on how things are, not on how you think things ought to be.
Employment law is no different to all the other elements that are needed to make a successful business. Whilst unfettered freedom can seem like a good idea, it is unlikely we will arrive at an unregulated climate for business, and we all have to live and trade within certain legal limits.
Annabel Kaye is Managing Director of Irenicon Ltd, a specialist employment law consultancy.
Tel: 08452 303050 Fax: 08452 303060 Website : www.irenicon.co.uk
You can follow Annabel on Twitter
Pingback: Bonfire of the Red Tape Vanities | Employment law in a mad world
Pingback: Simplifying the complex – red tape and employment law | Employment law in a mad world
Pingback: What I say, or what I mean? Red tape and employment law | Employment law in a mad world
Pingback: Red tape and fairness | Employment law in a mad world