London has hosted the Olympics on three occasions: in 1908, then again in 1948 and most recently in 2012. During that time, the world of employment law has changed dramatically. Each London Olympics has taken place against an evolving landscape of labor laws, reflecting the socio-economic and political attitudes of their times.

The Olympics of 1908 was held during a period of modern employment law development in the UK.² The country was at the tail-end of the industrial revolution, and advocates for workers’ rights were ever-more vocal. New laws included the Factory and Workshop Act 1901, which set limitations on the working hours for women and children, and the Old Age Pensions Act 1908, which introduced the first UK state pensions for workers over 70. Groundbreaking stuff indeed!

Fast-forward 40 years to the 1948 Olympics, and the UK was busy rebuilding itself after war, and, in the process, establishing the welfare state. At the time of those Games, the most significant recent additions to UK employment law were the National Insurance Act 1946 and the National Assistance Act 1948, which repealed the exiting “Poor Law” and established comprehensive social security throughout the UK based on a contributory system.

In the run up to the 2012 Games, the UK had developed as a key player in the globalised economy. Accordingly, recent developments in employment law had focussed on the challenges posed by advanced technology and the service sectors, with an increased focus on diversity, inclusivity, and workers’ rights. The years before these games were a transformative period for employment law, with the introduction of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998, the Equality Act 2010, and the key piece of UK legislation from the last 30 years: the Employment Rights Act 1996, which codified and recast a host of employment rights, including the fundamental right for an employee not to be unfairly dismissed.

In the 12 years since London’s most recent Olympic Games, the country itself has been through some further changes, particularly regarding its political relationship with the European Union, which has had (and will continue to have) an impact on the development of laws in the UK. However, UK employment law has developed more incrementally during this time. Relevant changes have included, amongst many others: extensive case law and amendments to laws on the rights to holiday pay (and how it should be calculated), the introduction of mandatory gender pay gap reporting for large employers, a new system of shared parental leave to help facilitate secondary caregivers to take time off on the birth or adoption of a child, the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and the UK’s adoption of the General Data Protection Regulation into UK law. In addition, how employers should respond when there is conflict of individual workers’ different religious or philosophical beliefs (whether in the workplace or on social media) has been a recent theme in employment tribunal cases.

A further interesting development was actually a reversal of policy. In 2017, the Conservative Government’s 2013 decision to introduce fees for any employee wishing to make an employment claim in an employment tribunal was declared unlawful. The decision resulted in reimbursements for thousands of Claimants and has subsequently led to an increase in employment tribunal claims.

Looking forward, by the time London hosts the Olympics again, employment law in the UK will likely have changed significantly as the world of work and technology evolves. In early July, Kier Starmer’s Labour Party won “gold” at the ballot box. The Labour Party has proposed a number of dramatic policies, including a reduction in the current two-year qualification period for an unfair dismissal claim to day one of employment, the shortest qualifying period since unfair dismissal was introduced in the 1970s.  

*Darcey Phillips is a Paralegal at GQ|Littler.