05
October
2017
From the Helpdesk: Here is a summary of current employment legislation changes to be aware of. Taxation of Termination Payments The government plans to make changes to the taxation of termination payments from April 2018. The proposals include: removing the distinction between contractual and non-contractual PILONs (payments in lieu of notice) so that all PILONs are taxable and subject to Class 1 NICs ensuring that the first £30,000 of a termination payment remains exempt from income tax and that any payment paid to any employee that relates solely to the termination of the employment continues to have an unlimited employee NICs exemption aligning the rules for income tax and employer NICs so that employer NICs will be payable on payments above £30,000 (which are currently only subject to income tax) Restricting Employment Allowance for Illegal Workers The government plans to introduce a further deterrent to the employment of illegal workers. From April 2018, employers will not be able to claim the Employment Allowance for one year if they have: hired an illegal worker been penalised by the Home Office exhausted all appeal rights against that penalty. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) The government has confirmed it will be implementing the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which applies to all EU Member States from 25 May 2018, even though the UK is leaving the EU (see GCMA articles here and here. The new rules give individuals: easier access to their own data a ‘right to be forgotten’ a right to know when their data has been hacked. Organisations will benefit from having: a single set of data protection rules across the EU and one supervisory authority, rather than the current 28. Notifications to supervisory bodies are also being scrapped. But companies may be required to: pay a fine of up to 4% of global turnover if they breach the new rules appoint a data protection officer in certain circumstances. Exemptions apply for SMEs for whom data processing is not a core business activity, and these employers may also charge a data access fee where requests are 'manifestly unfounded' or 'excessive.' The ICO has a range of information and resources on the new rules, including a 12-step guide, and more information is available in our Data protection, surveillance and privacy at work Q&As. Grandparental Leave In March 2016, the government confirmed its plans to extend shared parental leave and pay to working grandparents by 2018. However, to date, no further information has been issued on this subject. Gender Pay Gap Reporting Private and voluntary sector employers in England, Wales and Scotland with at least 250 employees will be required to publish information about the differences in pay between men and women in their workforce, based on a pay bill ‘snapshot’ date of 5 April 2017, under the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017. The first reports must be published by 4 April 2018. Similar reporting requirements apply to larger public sector employers from 31... Please LOGIN to read the full article.
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