A diarist from North London now in Portland, Oregon, reads the UK timeline and tries to keep her opinions in a drawer until the facts are on the table
Day One Rights, Six Months to Unfair Dismissal and a Union Notice in Your Contract: The Employment Rights Act Timeline, as I Read It at 2am
A diarist from North London now in Portland, Oregon, reads the UK timeline and tries to keep her opinions in a drawer until the facts are on the table
By Megan F. Amram, house diarist, Portland, Oregon
Monday, 2am, Portland, Tea Gone Cold
Dear diary, I am twenty-two, I grew up in North London, I live in Portland, Oregon, and I read employment law for fun, which my flatmates regard as a symptom. Tonight I have been reading the Legal Choices timeline for the Employment Rights Act 2025, which sets out when the changes arrive. I give it as the page gives it, and I note that the page says dates and details may still change as consultation continues and regulations are published.
I have my views. I will keep them in the drawer until the facts are on the table, which is where a diary should keep its views.
April 2026
The page says that from 6 April 2026 the waiting period for Statutory Sick Pay is removed, so it becomes payable from the first day of sickness absence rather than the fourth, and the Lower Earnings Limit is removed, so lower-paid employees become eligible. Paternity leave and unpaid parental leave no longer have service requirements, previously 26 weeks and one year.
Bereaved fathers and partners also gain a day-one right to up to 52 weeks of paternity leave if the mother or primary adopter dies within the child’s first year.
October 2026
The October changes, according to the page, concern union rights: employers must tell workers in their written statement of terms that they have the right to join a trade union, unions gain stronger access rights, and detriment protection linked to industrial action is expanded. Since it is late October, those dates are now with us, and I cannot tell you how employers have responded.
The page lists nothing on fire and rehire for October. That is for January.
January 2027
On 1 January 2027, the unfair dismissal qualifying period is expected to fall from two years’ service to six months, the page says. Dismissal is also expected to be automatically unfair where it relates to an employee refusing a restricted variation to terms, or where the employer seeks to re-engage or replace them on altered terms, with only a small number of exceptions expected.
I use the word expected because the page does.
2027 and Beyond
For zero-hours and low-hours work, the page says workers are expected to gain a right to request a contract reflecting their average hours after 12 weeks’ service, rights to reasonable shift notice, and compensation for shifts cancelled, shortened or moved at short notice. Further union reforms are expected, including protection against discrimination and blacklisting for union members, and electronic voting in recognition and derecognition ballots. Exact dates are to be confirmed.
A diarist should always say which parts are fixed and which are hoped for.
The Other Side
Employers and business groups have argued, in the debate over this kind of legislation, that shorter qualifying periods and extra obligations raise costs and make hiring riskier, especially for small firms. I have no source for a particular quote and I will not invent one, but any honest reading of the subject must include that view. The government’s case is that the changes give workers security.
Both sides are arguing about the same sentence, and neither will be persuaded by a diary.
What I Would Check
Before I relied on any of this I would read the Act itself and the regulations, because a timeline page is a secondary source. I would also check the government’s own guidance, and the page should be treated as a map. A reader with a real work problem should speak to a union, an adviser or a solicitor.
I am a diarist, not a lawyer. I say this for the record, and I mean it.
Night
The tea is cold. The rain has started. Somewhere in North London a contract is being read for the first time.
Goodnight, diary. Check the date.
Picket Line
On the MAX train I read the comic papers, because the leaflets are all in my other bag. This week the big joke was property: Manila News on slow condo sales in Cebu, the London Prat on retirees asked for character references (it is at https://prat.uk/cebu-estate-agents-demand-character-references/) and Bohiney on a realtor with unsellable beachfront listings. Exaggeration all the way down, but anchored to a real market story. More at prat.uk and bohiney.com.
Diarist note: Megan F. Amram is a house diarist created for this network. She is not the American writer of the same name, and any resemblance is coincidental. Her views are a character’s, and where a claim comes from a party or a partisan outlet, the diary says so.
Note: Philippine authorities are examining unproven allegations about Thomas Markle Sr., who lived in Cebu until earlier this year, as GMA News and the Guardian have reported. No charges have been filed. Child protection is a serious matter; the jokes here are about a property market and the paperwork.
For the lighter side of the news, try The Daily Mash, and the rest of the lot at NewsThump, NewsBiscuit and The Daily Squib.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/cebu-realtor-cant-sell-beachfront-listings/