Douglas Alexander MP has today praised the impact that new workers’ rights legislation has started to have for people in East Lothian.
The Employment Rights Act, which began to come into force in April, has already had a positive effect on working people locally, according to the MP.
The Act makes sweeping changes to workers’ rights in the UK, including a right to sick pay from day one, more rights to collectively negotiate for better pay and conditions for adult social care, and more “family friendly” rights like a day one right to paternity leave and unpaid parental leave.
More policies in the Employment Rights Act, like a guaranteed hours contract for all workers, will come into force at a later date.
The news comes after new polling data from the TUC and HOPE not hate reveals that 76% of people in the Lothian East constituency support the right to sick pay from day one of illness.
This means that workers are able to claim statutory sick pay from the very first day they go off sick, rather than only being able to claim statutory sick pay from their fourth day off as it was previously.
Commenting on the legislation’s impact, Douglas Alexander MP said:
“I was proud to stand on delivering Labour’s New Deal for Working People at the election, and vote for the Employment Rights Act when it came to Parliament.
“The legislation has already introduced important benefits for working people here and across the UK, with more rights still to come as it’s implemented in full.
“When I speak to people about the measures introduced in the Act, they tell me it has made them feel more secure about their work and their finances.
“That’s why it’s no wonder that more than three-quarters of people here support the new right to sick pay from their first day off ill.”