The government's plans for an overhaul of employment law, including strengthening workers' rights over statutory sick pay, parental leave and unfair dismissal, will be put before parliament today.
Under Labour's proposed Employment Rights Bill, which will not take effect before autumn 2026, workers will be entitled to sick pay from the first day of illness, rather than the fourth.
Reforming the UK's current statutory sick pay system, which is said to be one of the least generous in the OECD, the current earnings limit for statutory sick pay will also be removed, with these entitlements beginning from the first day of employment.
Companies will not be allowed to fire employees and rehire them on worse terms and conditions, with the practice of 'fire and rehire' banned in all but exceptional circumstances.
Workers on zero-hours contracts, currently estimated to number around a million, must be given some level of guaranteed working hours but will be able to request remaining on a zero-hours contract if they prefer. Research has found that 84% of zero-hours workers would rather have guaranteed hours.
Fathers and partners will be eligible for paternity leave from day one, and unpaid parental leave will also become a day-one right, affecting over 1.5 million workers.
Requests by employees for flexible working made from day one must be accepted unless companies can prove it is unreasonable.
The bill also repeals anti-union legislation put in place by the previous government, including the much-derided Minimum Service Levels (Strikes) Act legislation brought in by Rishi Sunak.
Among the 28 individual employment reforms in the bill, other measures include consultations on a potential new statutory probation and strengthening protections for pregnant employees.
"This government is delivering the biggest upgrade to rights at work for a generation, boosting pay and productivity with employment laws fit for a modern economy," said deputy prime minister Angela Rayner in a statement.
She said UK’s employment laws were out-of-date and "holding our country back", with Labour's plans aiming to deliver "security in work as the foundation for boosting productivity and growing our economy".