THE somewhat unexpected vote for Brexit has important implications for employment law and practice.
It comes at a time of turmoil in British politics.
There is a new prime minister who has suggested that one of her reforms is to have a representative of the employees on company boards.
It is not currently known when Brexit will happen, and what that will mean in any detail.
It is most probably at the very least two years away, and may be far longer than that.
In the meantime, there are large numbers of employees of companies in this area who have the right to live and work here only because of the European Union.
They may feel that it is safer for them to plan for a return to mainland Europe in light of these developments.
That may create practical problems for employers who lose key workers, or sufficiently large numbers of workers as to impact on their operations detrimentally.
A great deal has been written and said about Brexit and what should be done.
An online petition for a second referendum attracted over 4million signatories.
But the indications currently are that it is to happen.
It may be the most significant change to the legal landscape in this generation.
The agenda for the annual Employment Lax conference in November has therefore been changed so that the issues that are raised by it can be discussed.
In the short term, what if anything can be done?
What are the issues to be aware about, and what are the options to manage them?
In the medium term, what is Brexit likely to mean for employment laws?
Which ones may change, when and to what?
This requires not so much legal analysis but a form of educated guesswork, but it does affect to some extent the planning that employers can engage in when considering major changes in the next two year or so.
In the longer term, is Brexit going to be good for business, or bad?
Whether one was a leaver or a remainer, we are now all leavers.
What might be the effect of that, and what options are there for that future?
The talk that I will give at the conference is for half an hour and can but scratch the surface of an interesting but very opaque subject at present.
One option is to do nothing, sit back and wait for developments.
Another is to try to guess what is to happen, and make some form of contingency plan for that.
The second of those options makes for a slightly more interesting talk.
There are few advantages of age, but one is to be able to remember what it was like before many of the EU led changes were introduced, and there may be a return to that world at least in part.
I shall try to describe what I think it will look like.
- Sandy Kemp is a speaker at the annual Employment Law Conference on November 17.
It equips delegates with the essential information, knowhow and skills to deal with the demands of employment law and personnel management in an enjoyable way in the company of fellow professionals.