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New Beginnings for the Labour Relations Agency
A new year brings new beginnings for The Labour Relations Agency (LRA) which recently moved from its former home in the iconic Cathedral Quarter of Belfast – its base for 25 years.
No 163 The Transfer of Undertakings and Service Provision Change (Protection of Employment) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011
These Regulations amend the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (“the TUPE Regulations”), insofar as those Regulations apply to Northern Ireland, to take account of changes made by the Employment Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 (c. 13 (N.I.)).
No. 78 The Trade Union Ballots and Elections (Independent Scrutineer Qualifications) Order (Northern Ireland) 2010
These Rules revoke the previous provisions from 1992 and the subsequent amendments in 2003. These Rules amend provisions of the 1995 Trade Union and Labour Relations (NI) Order regarding certain trade union related ballots being supervised (as arranged by the trade union) by a qualified independent person (Scrutineer).
No.318 Race Relations Order (Seamen Recruited Abroad) Order (Northern Ireland) 2003
This Order reduces the scope of the exception under Article 11 of the Race Relations (NI) Order 1997 but there are still aspects of discrimination not covered.
No 191 The Sex Discrimination Order 1976 (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016
The Statutory Rule comes into operation on 2/5/16 and amends the Sex Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order 1976 (the "1976 Order") to comply with EU Pilot file 4853/13/JUST concerning the transposition of Council Directive 2006/54/EC in Northern Ireland ("the Recast Directive").
New Hybrid Working Guide Offers Timely Support to Employers
To coincide with the easing of Covid restrictions and anticipated lifting of the ‘work from home’ recommendation, a new guide offering NI employers the most up-to-date advice on ‘Hybrid Working’ has been launched by the Labour Relations Agency (LRA) for Northern Ireland.
No. 206 The Labour Relations Agency (Flexible Working) Arbitration Scheme Order (Northern Ireland) 2006
This Order establishes and brings into operation the flexible Working Arbitration Scheme as facilitated by the Labour Relations Agency.
No.331 Trade Union Elections and Ballots (Independent Scrutineer Qualifications) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2003
These rules make provision for the supervision of certain elections and ballots held by trade unions to be supervised by a qualified independent person / Scrutineer.
The Rehabilitation of Offenders (Exceptions) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2019
This instrument amends the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Exceptions) Order (Northern Ireland) 1979 (“the 1979 Order”) to give effect to changes to a criminal record ‘filtering scheme’ that allows some old and minor spent convictions to be ‘filtered, so that they are no longer disclosed and cannot be taken into account in employment decisions in certain circumstances. The 1978 Order makes it possible for certain convictions to become “spent”, which means that after a specified period a person can be treated for certain purposes as if the conviction had never happened and they need not, for example, tell an employer about the conviction when applying for a job.
To ensure that the public is adequately protected, however, certain exceptions to the 1978 Order are set out in the 1979 Order so that, for specified professions and occupations that typically involve a high degree of trust and often involve vulnerable persons, applicants must declare all past convictions when asked. The 1979 Order is amended periodically to ensure that the access to the criminal record disclosure regime keeps pace with changes in public risk; to ensure that disclosure regimes remain consistent across jurisdictions where appropriate; and to maintain the public trust and protection process.
This Order, the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Exceptions) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2019 (“the 2019 Order”), stems from a Supreme Court judgment, which ruled that elements of the criminal record ‘filtering scheme’ operated by the Department of Justice were disproportionate. The ‘filtering scheme’ was established in 2014 following a review of the criminal records regime in Northern Ireland that was carried out by Sunita Mason during 2011, which recommended that the Department of Justice should filter old and minor convictions from standard and enhanced criminal record certificates; and to take account of the findings of two court cases concerning the disclosure of criminal record material at that time.
The terms of the scheme are that a conviction can be filtered after a period of 11 years (or 5.5 years for those under 18 at the time of the conviction), so long as the conviction was not for a specified offence as listed in the 1979 Order (e.g. serious violent and sexual offences; or offences of specific relevance for posts concerned with safeguarding children and vulnerable adults; etc.); did not attract a custodial sentence; and if there is no other conviction on the individual’s record.
The Supreme Court found that limiting the filtering scheme to a single offence, with the result that more than one old and minor conviction would be disclosed automatically, was disproportionate. The Department has, therefore, adjusted the terms of the scheme to allow more than one offence to be filtered in order to comply with the judgment.
The 2019 Order gives effect to this change by amending the 1979 Order to remove Article 1A(2)(c), which restricted the terms of the filtering scheme to a single conviction. The Department is satisfied that public protection is maintained, however, as the remaining elements of the filtering scheme will continue to ensure that there is no increased risk to the public as a result of this change.
No. 323 The Road Transport (Working Time) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007
These Regulations, as of 31/7/07, replace the references to the previous 1985 EEC Regulation with those relating to the 2006 EC Regulation and make various technical amendments and provisions on previous omissions on matters such as types of vehicle covered and provisions for Industrial Tribunals to hear appeals against improvement notices as if they had been issued under the Health and Safety at Work (NI) Order 1978 (Art.26).