ERA Ready?

Practical steps for managing third-party harassment, union access and the new dismissal risks

The Employment Rights Act 2025 brings major changes to the employer compliance landscape. Liability for third-party harassment, statutory trade union access rights and reforms to unfair dismissal will take effect in October 2026 and January 2027. If your organisation has not yet started preparing for these changes, it should do so now.

Join our webinar, where CMS employment law experts will use practical scenarios to explain the impact of these changes and outline what employers need to do to comply. The session will cover:

• Third-party harassment: The new liability for third-party harassment, where employers fail to take all reasonable steps to prevent it, represents a significant change. Using a practical scenario, we will explore what this means in practice, including the reality of legal compliance and dealing with commercial relationships.
• Trade union access rights: New statutory rights for independent trade unions to access workplaces will come into force in October 2026. We will cover the key timescales, how employers should respond to access requests (which covers physical and digital access), and strategic considerations.
• Unfair dismissal reform: The changes to the law on unfair dismissal have several direct consequences for employers. We will explore the impact of the reduction of the qualifying period to six months, the removal of the compensatory award cap and longer time limits to raise claims. Changes impact on probationary periods, recruitment, performance management, senior exits, settlement discussions and contract updates.

This session is designed for People and HR teams, in-house legal and compliance professionals, and ER specialists responsible for preparing their organisation for these changes. There will also be time for questions and discussion with our team after the presentations.