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Rests and breaks
Employees are entitled to breaks for meals and to rest. As far as possible employers should provide breaks, facilities and comfortable surroundings for additional needs such as breastfeeding or expressing milk.
Annual holidays
Most workers - whether part-time or full-time - are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks' paid annual leave. Employers can set the times of the year that leave needs to be taken and workers must give the employer notice when they want to take leave.
Time off for trade union duties and activities
An employee who is an official of an independent trade union is entitled to paid time off in certain circumstances.
Employee representatives
Employees who act as representatives for consultation about redundancies or business transfers, or are candidates to be representatives of this kind, are entitled to reasonable time off with pay during working hours to perform these functions and to receive appropriate training.
Collective bargaining
This is one method that employers use to work with trade unions or works councils to negotiate matters such as terms and conditions of employment for certain groups or all their employees.
Restraint of Trade
Restraint of trade, also known as ‘restrictive covenants’ help organisations to protect themselves against competitors getting access to their confidential or commercially sensitive information.
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.
Statutory Paternity Pay
When your wife, partner or civil partner gives birth or adopts a child, you may be entitled to Statutory Paternity Pay.
Trade unions
The Industrial Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1992 defines a trade union as “an organisation (whether permanent or temporary) which … consists wholly or mainly of workers of one or more descriptions and is an organisation whose principal purposes include the regulation of relations between workers … and employers or employers’ associations.
Giving and Accepting Notice
If the employer or employee wishes to end the employment relationship they must give each other notice.