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Advice on Agreeing and Changing Contracts of Employment
This Guide is intended to give general advice and guidance about the main legal considerations which may arise when employers or employees wish to make changes to the contract of employment
Employee-led Early Conciliation
From 27 January 2020 anyone who wishes to lodge a claim with the Industrial or Fair Employment Tribunal must first notify the Labour Relations Agency and discuss the option of Early Conciliation. You will not be able to proceed to tribunal without at least considering this option.
LRA Research Uncovers Lack of Training in NI to Manage Workplace Disputes
Fewer than half of employers in Northern Ireland train managers to prevent or resolve workplace disputes. This was a key finding of research carried out on behalf of the Labour Relations Agency (LRA) by Cardiff Business School.
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.
Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022
An Act to make provision about leave and pay for employees whose children have died or who have experienced a miscarriage.
The Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (Administration) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2022
These Regulations provide for the funding of employers’ liabilities to make payments of statutory parental bereavement pay; they also impose obligations on employers in connection with such payments and confer powers on the Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (“the Commissioners”).
Under regulation 3, an employer is entitled to an amount equal to 92 per cent. of payments made by the employer of statutory parental bereavement pay, or the whole of such payments if the employer is a small employer. Regulations 4 to 7 provide for employers to be reimbursed through deductions from income tax, national insurance and other payments that they would otherwise make to the Commissioners, and for the Commissioners to fund payments to the extent that employers cannot be fully reimbursed in this way. Regulation 8 enables the Commissioners to recover overpayments to employers.
Regulation 9 requires employers to maintain records relevant to the payment of statutory parental bereavement pay to employees or former employees, and regulation 10 empowers officers of Revenue and Customs to inspect, copy or remove employers’ payment records.
Regulation 11 requires an employer who decides not to make any, or any further, payments of statutory parental bereavement pay to an employee or a former employee to give that person the details of the decision and the reasons for it. Regulations 12 and 13 provide for officers of Revenue and Customs to determine issues relating to a person’s entitlement to statutory parental bereavement pay. Regulation 14 provides for employers, employment agencies, persons claiming statutory parental bereavement pay and others to furnish information or documents to an officer of Revenue and Customs on request.
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.
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.
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.