MORE than three-quarters of employers in the North-East are struggling to keep up with changes in employment law, a survey showed.

According to research from HR firm Consult GEE, 78 per cent of employers cannot keep up with the raft of legislation.

Stuart Chamberlain, employment law expert at Consult GEE, said: "The Government has pushed through a bewildering level of changes to employment law over the last few years, so it is not surprising that so many businesses are finding it difficult to cope.

"Unfortunately, this year's major changes to maternity rights, the introduction of age discrimination rules and changes to the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) rules mean that employers are going to have little respite."

The research found that 37 per cent of employers in the region were unaware that the Disability Discrimination Act applied to all companies, regardless of size, and only 18.5 per cent realised that equal pay legislation applies only to male versus female pay disputes.

Mr Chamberlain said the uncertainty was particularly worrying in equal pay and maternity rights, as these were areas in which employment tribunal claims are increasing rapidly.