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Whistleblowing
The Public Interest Disclosure (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 protects those who report serious wrongdoing in the workplace from dismissal or detrimental treatment as a result of their whistleblowing.
Dismissal
Employees can be dismissed for reasons such as gross misconduct or a fundamental breach of contract. A fair and robust process should be followed where all parties have certain rights and responsibilities.
Antenatal Care
All pregnant employees are entitled to time off to keep appointments for antenatal care made on the advice of a registered medical practitioner, registered midwife or registered health visitor.
A person in a qualifying relationship with the pregnant employee is entitled to unpaid time off work to accompany the expectant mother to two antenatal appointments.
Pension scheme trustees and directors of trustee companies
Employees who are trustees of an occupational pension scheme (as defined in Section 1 of the Pension Schemes (Northern Ireland) Act 1993) or directors of trustee companies are entitled to reasonable time off with pay to carry out any of their trustee’s duties, or to receive training relevant to those duties.
Bereavement Leave
Employees are sometimes entitled to paid bereavement leave if someone close to them dies. All employees are entitled to reasonable time off without pay to arrange or attend the funeral of a dependant.
Job applications
There are two main options for inviting applications to job vacancies:
• providing a job application form to be completed and returned, or;
• asking applicants to send a copy of their curriculum vitae (CV).
Statutory Sick Pay
Employers are responsible for the payment of Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) for periods of illness of four days or more up to a total of 28 weeks' absence in any one period of incapacity for work.
The Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order (Northern Ireland) 2021
This Order increases, from 6th April 2021, the limits applying to certain awards of industrial tribunals, the Fair Employment Tribunal or Labour Relations Agency statutory arbitration. Examples of these rates include the maximum amount of “a week’s pay” for the purpose of calculating a redundancy payment or various awards, including the basic or additional award of compensation for unfair dismissal is now £566. The limit on amount of guarantee payment payable to an employee in respect of any day is now £30.00. The other rates can be found in the Schedule to the Order.
No 42 The Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order (Northern Ireland) 2020
This Order increases, from 6th April 2020, the limits applying to certain awards of industrial tribunals, the Fair Employment Tribunal or Labour Relations Agency statutory arbitration. Examples of these rates include the maximum amount of “a week’s pay” for the purpose of calculating a redundancy payment or various awards, including the basic or additional award of compensation for unfair dismissal is now £560. The limit on amount of guarantee payment payable to an employee in respect of any day is now £30.00. The other rates can be found in the Schedule to the Order.
Discrimination
Employers have a legal duty to ensure that they do not treat an individual less favourably on any grounds related to their age, gender, marital status, disability, race/nationality, sexual orientation, religious belief or political opinion.