There will be no change to workers’ rights and protections in the event of a no deal Brexit, the government has confirmed. It said that after 29 March 2019, regardless of whether the UK reaches a deal with the EU or not, workers will continue to be entitled to the same rights as those that are covered under The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, which translates EU legislation into UK law.
In a guidance document titled ‘Workplace rights if there’s no Brexit deal’ the government said that domestic legislation already exceeds the level of employment protection provided under EU law. It intends to make small amendments to the language of workplace legislation to reflect that the UK will no longer be a member of the EU but no policy changes will be made.
However, the government noted that there might be some implications to workers’ rights in the event of employer insolvency. In particular, employees that work in an EU country for a UK-based employer might not always be protected under the national guarantee established in that country, which could affect their ability to bring a wage claim.
Leaked cabinet papers have suggested that EU migrants will have the right to stay in the UK if there is no Brexit deal.
This news might come as a relief to many, however, recent research conducted by the Institute of Public Policy Research suggests that in order to effectively protect the EU employment rights of UK workers we need an agreement that is amenable to being updated following any future employment protections introduced by the EU. As it stands, the government approach proposed only protects existing EU employment rights.
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