Government recommendations to cut EU red tape

The Government’s Business Taskforce has made 30 recommendations to cut EU red tape. The Taskforce reported that the complexity and quantity of employment legislation coming from the EU is preventing job creation as many micro-enterprises are deciding not to employ staff because of the fear of being sued.

The Taskforce have therefore made a number of recommendations to reduce this burden. The proposals include:-

• Introducing the starting presumption that micro-businesses are exempt from new employment law proposals and when a proposal is beneficial to micro-businesses they should have a ‘proportionate’ regime;
• The European Commission should withdraw its proposal to amend the law so that employees are entitled to 20 weeks’ maternity leave with full pay. If adopted the UK would face extra costs of around £2.5 billion a year and some of this burden would fall on businesses;

• Introducing new working time proposals which provide more flexibility in relation to what constitutes ‘on-call time’ and when ‘compensatory rest’ should be taken. The Working Time Directive and subsequent court rulings have created confusion and uncertainty among employers. The Legislation should also be amended so that paid leave is not given to workers who have not worked at all during a leave year; and
• Ensuring that existing information and consultation legislation is not extended to micro-businesses.

These measures, if enacted, should go some way to reduce the current burden on micro-enterprises and SMEs. For further information please David Hacker.