HR Newsletter November 2026

Christmas Party Harassment Duty, Fire and Rehire, Zero-Hours Contracts and the Acas Code

Here is your November 2026 round-up from Progressive HR Solutions. With party season upon us, we begin with what employers must now do about harassment, then move on to a costly tribunal ruling, the arrival of the fire and rehire restrictions, proposed changes to the Acas Code and the zero-hours reforms, before finishing with questions we have been asked recently.

Office parties under the harassment duty: what employers should do now

Employers hosting a Christmas party this year are working in a new legal landscape, because this is the first festive season since the harassment rules were tightened in October 2026. Should an incident occur and you are unable to show that you took all reasonable steps to prevent it, liability rests with you.

October 2026 brought two changes. First, the obligation to prevent sexual harassment moved from taking “reasonable steps” to taking “all reasonable steps”. Second, you can now be held responsible when your employees are harassed by third parties, such as customers, clients and contractors, or by anybody else present at the event.

Because a Christmas party counts as a work event, you are answerable for the whole occasion. That covers comments between colleagues as well as remarks made to your staff by guests and plus-ones.

In any claim, a tribunal will ask what preparation you made. Before your next social event this season, consider these four measures:

1. Write a risk assessment, however short. A single page will do, provided it has been produced and you have followed it.

2. Make sure your managers know what warning signs to watch for and how to respond if an incident occurs.

3. Set up a clear route for staff to raise a complaint, including outside normal working hours.

4. Once the event is over, follow up. Any report that comes in needs action.

None of this offers a guarantee of protection, yet together these steps help demonstrate to a tribunal that you treated the duty seriously.

Want support putting these measures in place ahead of your Christmas event? Get in touch.

Dismissed for being “under the influence”: a costly lesson in investigating properly

A woman with bipolar disorder usually took her medication in the evening, but on one occasion she took it at lunchtime. Inside an hour she was drowsy, confused and struggling to speak clearly, and she dozed off at her desk. Three of her colleagues saw it happen. None of them checked whether she was OK.

She was suspended the following day on the grounds that she was “under the influence”, and was subsequently dismissed for gross misconduct.

The tribunal described the employer's investigation as “seriously flawed”. Nobody contacted the café she had been to at lunch, which does not serve alcohol. Nobody asked her about her medication, and no other explanation was considered. In the judge's view, no reasonable employer would have dismissed in these circumstances.

Her award was close to £50,000.

The lesson: when a team member acts out of character, begin by asking if they are all right. A medical cause is possible, and leaping to a misconduct finding without a thorough investigation can make one incident extremely expensive.

New fire and rehire rules from January: unlimited compensation and no service requirement

A significant change takes effect in January. Dismissing a person and then re-engaging them on inferior terms will count as automatically unfair. A claimant will not need any qualifying service, and the compensation a tribunal can order will not be capped.

Many small business owners do not realise their actions fall under this heading. “Fire and rehire” simply describes terminating an employee's contract and offering a fresh one with worse terms.

From January, the rules apply to alterations to pay, working hours, time off and pensions. Where an employee does not agree to the change and you dismiss them to push it through, the dismissal will be automatically unfair.

A single exception exists, and it is tightly drawn. The business would need to prove it was in genuine financial distress that put its survival at risk, and that no other reasonable option could avert this. A wish to cut costs does not meet that test.

Have you altered anyone's terms lately by ending one contract and beginning another, or are you planning to? Look at those arrangements before January, and if you are unsure, seek advice first.

Acas disciplinary and grievance code: the first rewrite since 2009

Acas has run a consultation on completely redrafting its Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures, the first time it has done so since 2009. Although the consultation ended in September and no final version has appeared, it is already clear where things are heading.

The headline change: informal resolution will, for the first time, form part of the statutory code.

Currently, the idea of trying to settle matters informally is found only in the foreword, which a tribunal has no duty to take into account. The new draft moves it into the code itself. As a result, an employer who launches a formal process without first attempting an informal solution could find a tribunal factoring that in when it sets compensation, including the 25% uplift.

Employers who already talk things through informally when problems surface are in a good position. The key is to note those discussions down, even in brief. Without evidence, a conversation may as well not have taken place.

Zero-hours and low-hours contracts: preparing for 2027

Consultation on the government's proposals for zero-hours and low-hours contracts has now closed, with the changes expected to come into force in 2027.

As proposed, qualifying workers would have to be offered a guaranteed-hours contract reflecting the hours they have really worked across a reference period, probably 12 weeks. A worker may turn the offer down and keep their present arrangement.

Also proposed are a right to reasonable notice of shifts, and compensation where a shift is cancelled at the last minute.

Details remain to be settled, among them the cut-off for low-hours contracts, where the government favours a figure somewhere between 8 and 20 hours a week.

Employers using zero-hours, casual or bank workers should take this opportunity to review those arrangements and identify who would be affected.

Your questions answered

An employee has told me they are experiencing domestic abuse. How should I respond?

Employers are not legally required to have a separate domestic abuse policy, yet your duty of care and health and safety responsibilities still apply.

React with sensitivity and offer confidentiality. Think about whether reasonable adjustments could help, for example flexible hours, new contact details or a safe working arrangement, and point the employee to specialist support services. Should your managers lack training on handling such a disclosure, address that.

If I make someone redundant, can I offer a different job?

Yes, a genuine redundancy remains lawful.

That said, from January 2027 a dismissal followed by an offer of a substantially similar role on worse terms may be treated as fire and rehire, which is automatically unfair.

What matters is whether the new job is truly different or just the previous job with reduced pay or conditions. Write down the business reasons, consult properly, and get advice before going ahead.

Is a risk assessment needed ahead of our Christmas party?

Yes. The harassment duty has required “all reasonable steps” since October, and a work social event is a work event.

Without a risk assessment you have nothing to defend yourself with if something goes wrong. It need not be lengthy.

Address the essentials: alcohol, mixed attendees such as clients or suppliers, the venue layout, how staff can report an incident and which managers have been briefed. Retain a copy.