New regulations entitle small businesses to claim up to £500 a month for absentee employees.New regulations that came into force on the 1st October will allow small and medium companies to qualify for financial compensation payments if Reservists employed by the company are called up for service.
The new legislation, The Reserve Forces (Payment to Employers and Partners) Regulations 2014, will entitle small companies to claim up to £500 a month for each full month a reservist is absent from work (pro-rated for part-months and part-time employees working fewer than 35 hours per week), in order to help protect employers from loses through absentees.
Employers will also be able to claim up to £110 a day for additional salary costs incurred in providing cover for the absent reservist.
Also introduced is a new provision for employees who allege their dismissal was connected to their membership of a reserve force, such as the army reserve, will now not need to have the usual two-year qualifying period required to claim unfair dismissal.
Reservists will still have to prove that it was unfair to dismiss them because of their absences from work however – they will not be treated as automatically unfairly dismissed.
The full regulations can be seen here: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/2410/contents/made
