Search Results
Economy Minister welcomes new legislation to protect Northern Ireland workers
Economy Minister Diane Dodds has welcomed new employment legislation which will benefit workers across Northern Ireland.
The Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 (Protection from Detriment in Health and Safety Cases) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2021 extends protections against detriment in health and safety cases to workers in relation to any action they may take to protect themselves or others where they reasonably believe there is serious and imminent danger in their place of work.
It will come into operation on 31 May 2021. At present, these protections cover only employees.
The Order must be approved by a resolution of the Assembly within six months of coming into operation. It must therefore be confirmed on or before 31 November 2021.
The move has its origins in a Judicial Review brought by the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain against the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and the Health and Safety Executive in Great Britain.
A High Court Judgment was published in November which directed that the Health and Safety Framework Directive and the Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) Directive should apply to a wider group of workers, not just employees.
Minister Dodds said: “This Order is about more than about responding appropriately to the decision of a High Court ruling. It will also give clarity to business and individuals.
“As businesses emerge from lockdown, everyone will need to be protected during the transition back to the workplace.
“This Order will allow some of our most vulnerable workers the legal protection they need to act to ensure their own safety and the safety of others without fear of suffering detriment for doing the right thing. This includes protecting them against being denied promotion or training opportunities.”
466 Industrial Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996
These Regulations came into operation as of 3rd November 1997 (with some exceptions) and amend the Industrial Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations (NI) 1996 in relation to: proceedings under Disability Discrimination Act, notice of appearance timescales, requirement for tribunals to give extended reason for decisions under the 1995 Act, procedures for appointment of expert for equal value cases and so on.
Legislation
Welcome to the Labour Relations Agency’s employment legislation link pages. We have attempted to collate all relevant employment legislation (Primary and Secondary) on these pages for our users’ ease of reference. Essentially users will get a brief summary of the content of the legislation and then a link to the www.legislation.gov.uk website delivered by the National Archives via www.nationalarchives.gov.uk.
No.470 (C.29) The Disability Discrimination (2006) Order (Commencement No.2) Order (Northern Ireland) 2006
This Order continues to introduce ( as of 1/1/07) some components of the 2006 Order which is being phased in during the first half of 2007.
Types of contracts
In addition to contracts of employment, a number of other types of contracts exist.
557 Disability Discrimination (Services and Premises) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996
These Regulations address many issues including the following matter: ‘justified’ treatment, insurance, premises, deposit refunds, entering agreements where the disabled person is acting through an agent.
Sharp rise in redundancy enquiries to the Labour Relations Agency
Our Workplace Information Service have observed a notable surge in enquiries from both employees and employers regarding redundancy.
Hybrid Working - Here to stay or past its use-by date?
There has been a noticeable drift back to the workplace following the pandemic, with the proportion of NI employees working remotely for some of the time falling from 41% in April 2020 to 17%. Ironically, even Zoom has recently decided to bring its staff back to the office for at least part of the week.
With this in mind, CIPD NI and the Labour Relations Agency ran a webinar on 16 October 2023 to take stock of the HR profession’s experience of hybrid working to date. CIPD NI Branch Chair Nicola Barber hosted the event, and we were joined by an expert panel comprising:
• Ulster University Economist Ana Desmond, co-author of ‘Is remote working, working?’ – research into remote working patterns in NI, published in August 2023;
• Leading HR practitioner and thinker Gary Cookson, author of ‘HR for Hybrid Working’ published in June 2022; and,
• Caroline Samia from the Labour Relations Agency.
The event was recorded, and is now available to view below. The slide deck used during the event is also available for download.
Guide to LRA Services (Cantonese Translation)
November 2011