The HR Podcast Ep 2: Fire and rehire, AI, and scrapping the Equality Act - what HR needs to know
Episode 2 of the Personnel Today HR Podcast, brought to you by Deel, tackles three pressure points for HR: "fire and rehire", AI's role in handling AI-generated grievances and investigations, and the proposal from Reform UK to repeal the Equality Act 2010.
The team is joined by employment law trainer and commentator Darren Newman to unpack what's changing and what to do next. Episode recorded 20 February 2026. New episodes drop on the last Wednesday of each month.
Fire and rehire: where "restricted variations" could make dismissal automatically unfair
The episode explores proposals that would treat certain contract changes as "restricted variations". If an employer dismisses and re-engages to push those through, it could be automatically unfair, with narrow exceptions.
Legal details are moving. Don't bank on old playbooks. Your best move is to tighten process and evidence, and only consider dismissal-and-reengagement as a last resort after real consultation.
- Assess business rationale early: be specific, quantified, and evidenced.
- Run a genuine consultation: alternatives explored, feedback logged, decisions explained.
- Scope "restricted" terms: pay, hours, location, and job status are higher risk. Document why lesser changes won't achieve the aim.
- Equality lens on every option: model impacts on protected groups; record mitigation steps.
- Keep negotiations alive: phased changes, buyouts, temporary measures, or voluntary moves often beat litigation.
- Follow the code: see the ACAS guidance on dismissal and re-engagement for process expectations and uplift risks. ACAS: Dismissal and re-engagement
AI-generated grievances: can AI help HR handle the volume?
Grievance volume is rising, including templated or AI-written complaints. The question isn't "AI or no AI". It's where AI can safely reduce admin while you keep humans on the judgment calls.
- Triage and routing: auto-tag issues (pay, bullying, discrimination), assign owners, and set SLAs.
- De-duplication: detect near-identical or serial filings without dismissing valid concerns.
- Summaries and timelines: condense long narratives, surface dates, evidence, and inconsistencies.
- Language support: translation and plain-English rewrites to reduce misinterpretation.
- Risk flags: highlight allegations touching protected characteristics or health/safety.
- Guardrails: human review on outcomes, transparent prompts, audit logs, access controls, and DSAR readiness.
If you're building capability in-house, start with small pilots and measure turnaround time, consistency, and escalations. For practical resources, see AI for Human Resources.
AI in workplace investigations: the heavy lifting (done right)
AI won't replace investigators. It can clear the path so people can focus on fairness and credibility.
- Evidence handling: auto-index emails, chats, and files; transcript and search audio/video; redact PII.
- Hypothesis maps: generate timelines and relationship graphs to guide interviews (not to decide outcomes).
- Prompt libraries: standardize interview prep, notification letters, and report structures.
- Quality and bias checks: second-pass reviews to spot shaky reasoning or missing corroboration.
- Governance: chain of custody, retention rules, vendor DPAs, and role-based access as defaults.
Senior leaders setting policy and risk appetite may find this useful: AI Learning Path for CHROs.
Scrapping the Equality Act: what a repeal would collide with
Suella Braverman has said Reform UK would repeal the Equality Act 2010 on "day one". The Act integrates more than 50 years of anti-discrimination law into one framework. Removing it would touch core duties on discrimination, harassment, victimisation, equal pay, disability adjustments, and the public sector equality duty.
Whatever the politics, change of this scale would be complex and slow, with immediate uncertainty for employers and public bodies. Plan for continuity until actual law changes are passed and commenced.
- Hold policy lines: keep current standards on discrimination, harassment, and reasonable adjustments.
- Preserve records: job evaluation, pay equity data, and adjustment logs will matter under any framework.
- Supplier and public-sector work: maintain PSED-aware processes until legislation says otherwise.
- Training stays priority: managers need capability to handle complaints without creating new liability.
- Track primary sources: Equality Act 2010 (legislation.gov.uk)
Listen and subscribe
This month's Personnel Today HR Podcast features Darren Newman alongside the editorial team. Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, YouTube and more. New episodes publish on the last Wednesday of each month. Next episode: 25 March 2026.
Quick HR checklist
- Fire and rehire: tighten consultation, document business need, model equality impacts, and use dismissal-and-reengagement only as a last resort.
- AI in grievances: automate triage and summarization, keep humans on decisions, and log everything.
- Investigations: use AI for transcription, search, redaction, and structure-never for conclusions.
- Equality Act talk: don't pre-empt policy changes; keep current protections and training in place.
This article is informational and not legal advice. For specific cases, seek qualified counsel.
Your membership also unlocks:
