The Chart Toppers In Blair's Employment Law Bonanza

Tony Blair may be gone but his 10 years as Prime Minister saw an unprecedented number of laws relating to employment.

Karen Plumbley-Jones, employment specialist,  looks at Tony Blair’s legacy for employers and the huge number of laws relating to employment.

Do you remember the summer of ‘97? Oasis and the Spice Girls topped the charts, stilettos made a comeback and Henmania reached fever pitch at Wimbledon. Not forgetting, of course, the Labour election victory, “Blair’s Babes” and the start of an unprecedented 10 year run of law making. Tony Blair’s decade as prime minister saw an average of 2,685 new laws being passed every year.

What effect did this have on employment law? I qualified back in 1992 (in the days of John Major) so am old enough to comment! In short, there has been a huge increase in work for legal publishers, employment lawyers and the employment tribunals.

Let’s have a look at what stands out as the successes and failures amongst the numerous new acts of parliament and statutory instruments.

My top five most successful employment laws

• The National Minimum Wage Act, which has reportedly lifted thousands of workers out of poverty, without reducing the number of jobs.
• The Working Time Regulations, which introduced new rights to paid holidays, rest breaks and limits on working time.
• Legislation prohibiting discrimination on various grounds, including age, sexual orientation and religion and belief.
• Improvements in maternity, paternity and adoption leave and pay, together with flexible working for parents and carers of dependent adults.
• The Public Interest Disclosure Act, which gave protection to those who blow the whistle on their employers.

My top five least successful employment laws

• The Employment Rights (Dispute Resolution) Act and the Dispute Resolution Regulations. were intended to reduce the number of disputes going to the tribunal but have had the opposite effect. Described as being of “Byzantine complexity” and equally unpopular with employers, employees and their lawyers, they are currently under review and may well be abolished.
• The introduction of stakeholder pensions. At the moment, there is no requirement for employers to make contributions to these schemes and the take up has been minimal.
• The Human Rights Act, which received a bad press and has made little impact on the legal system.
• The new version of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations has led to widespread confusion.
• The new consultation rights for employees, such as European Works Councils and the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations have proved to be a damp squib and made little difference in practice.

Will Gordon Brown keep us as busy? There were few clues in his acceptance speech on Sunday. It is too early to tell whether his pledges to give Labour Party policies, a “soul” and to tackle job insecurity will bring more legislation but it cannot be ruled out. And maybe someone should tell Gordon that the single that spent the most weeks at No 1 in 1997 was Puff Daddy’s “I’ll be Missing You”!

Published 05/07/2007. The author of this article is Karen Plumbley-Jones