A to Z of Employment - Entries for H
Harassment
Harassment & Bullying in the Workplace a joint guide by The Labour Relations Agency & Equality Commission for Northern Ireland
Harassment and Bullying in the Workplace
Health & Safety
Responsibility for the promotion and enforcement of health and safety at work in Northern Ireland is held by The Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI). HSENI's role is to ensure that risks to people's health and safety from work activities are properly controlled.
Their free helpline provides an advisory service for customers who have queries over health and safety in the workplace. The telephone number is 0800 0320 121. The information and advice centre based at Ladas Drive, Belfast provides a comprehensive range of health and safety information resources for customers
Health Assessments – night workers
The Working Time Regulations requires an employer to offer night workers a free health assessment before they start and while they are working on nights. This can be made up of two parts; a questionnaire and a medical examination.
Holidays/Annual Leave
Disagreements over holidays and holiday pay are common. Every year our Enquiry Point gets hundreds of calls about summer and Christmas holidays and time-off at bank holidays.
Most workers - whether part-time or full-time - are legally entitled to 4.8 weeks' paid annual leave. Additional annual leave may be agreed as part of a worker's contract. A week's leave should allow workers to be away from work for a week - i.e. it should be the same amount of time as the working week. If a worker does a five-day week, he or she is entitled to 24 days leave. If he or she does a three-day week, the entitlement is 14.4 days leave. Employers can set the times that workers take their leave, for example for a Christmas shutdown and workers must give their employer notice when they want to take leave. If a worker's employment ends, he or she has a right to be paid for the leave time due and not taken.
A workers' minimum annual statutory holiday entitlement will increase to 28 days on 1st October 2008,
Information note No.3 Holidays, holiday pay and entitlements
Frequently asked questions on holidays annual leave -
http://www.delni.gov.uk/index/work/paidholidayentitlement.htm
Hours of Work
We all work slightly different hours. We might work part-time, flexi time, shift work, job share or work from home. The working time regulations set out the legal limits for the hours you work and the amount of rest time and leave you must be given.
Human Rights Act
The Human Rights Act 1998, which came into force in October 2000 incorporates the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and allows individuals and organisations to go to court or to a tribunal to seek a remedy if they believe that the rights conferred on them by the European Convention have been violated by a public authority. The main articles in relation to the employment field include:
- Article 6 – Right to a fair trial
- Article 8 – Right to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence
- Article 9 – Freedom of Religion
- Article 10 – Freedom of expression
- Article 11 – Freedom of Assembly and Association