A final draft of a government code of practice on dismissal and re-engagement — known as “fire and hire” — was published in February and is set to come into force in the summer. But despite improvements made during the consultation, several issues remain with the code that will be unhelpful to both employers and employees.
Can a fire and rehire strategy ever be fair? Parliamentarians need to strike a tricky balance: giving enough space for employers to change terms and conditions to reduce costs to save the business in difficult economic conditions, while at the same time protecting employees who are also struggling financially from unilateral changes that are unfair.
Dismissal and re-engagement is supposed to be used as a last resort for struggling
