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The Working Time (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2023
These Regulations make provision relating to employment under the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 (c. 28) (“2023 Act”) by way of amendments to the Working Time Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 (S.R. 2016 No. 49) (“2016 Regulations”).
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 79 (C.7) The Employment Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 (Commencement No 2) Order (Northern Ireland) 2018
This legislation becomes operational from 29/3/18 and makes changes regarding the provisions on the indexation of certain employment rights awards.
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").
581 Industrial Tribunals (Interest on Awards in Sex and Disability Discrimination Cases) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996
These Regulations provide for 26th January 1997 as the date on which they come into operation and primarily relate to interest on awards and compensation orders made by an Industrial Tribunal in equal pay, disability discrimination and sex discrimination cases and as such harmonises the provisions in relation to interest.
No 317 The Work and Families (Increase of Maximum Amount) Order (Northern Ireland) 2009
This Order comes into effect on 1/10/09 and has the main purpose of increasing the maximum weekly amount used for the purposes of calculating certain awards by the Industrial Tribunal from £350 to £380. This is commonly referred to as the “capped weeks pay” for the purposes of unfair dismissal and redundancy pay calculations.
No. 441 The Labour Relations Agency (Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures) (Jurisdictions) Order (Northern Ireland) 2011
This Order comes into operation on 1/1/12 and essentially provides for complaints under Regulation 51 of the Companies (Cross-Border Mergers) Regulations 2007 to be covered as a jurisdiction to which the new Labour Relations Agency Code of Practice on Discipline and Grievance will apply.
No.498 Industrial Tribunals (Interest on Awards in Sexual Orientation Discrimination Cases) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003
These Regulations make special provisions in relation to interest on awards and compensation orders made by industrial tribunals under the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations (NI) 2003.
The Working Time Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016
These Regulations consolidate and replace the provisions of the Working Time Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998 (the ‘1998 Regulations’) and the ten Statutory Rules which amended it from 1998 to 2009.
The Statutory Sick Pay (General) (Coronavirus Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2020
These Regulations make changes to the the Statutory Sick Pay (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1982 to outline in section 3(5A), the "person" and adds in additional text act under 4(6) regarding advice from the PHA.