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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.
Leave for Flexible working hearings
Parents of children under the age of seventeen (or disabled children under the age of eighteen) and carers of adults have the right to apply to their employer to work more flexibly.
Working Time Regulations
In addition to the rights outlined around qualifying periods, a number of other rights and responsibilities exist. These relate to rest breaks, the number of hours a worker can be required to work and paid leave.
Paternity Leave
Paternity leave allows parents to take time off from their work to have time with their child following a birth.
Employer-led Early Conciliation
Early Conciliation is available to employers who are dealing with a workplace dispute which could result in a claim being made to the Industrial or Fair Employment Tribunal. The employer's representative can also contact us to request Early Conciliation on the employer's behalf.
Tests and checks
Employers can do various checks to make sure future employees can do the job they are being hired to do, that they are entitled to work in Northern Ireland, and that they are not barred from working with vulnerable groups.
The Employment Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 (Commencement No. 3) Order (Northern Ireland) 2020
This Order brings into operation certain provisions of the Employment Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 on 27th January 2020.
Article 2(a) to (e) commence provisions on early conciliation of employment disputes.
Article 2(f) commences the provision which places an obligation on the Department to review early conciliation.
Article 2(g) and (h) commences the provisions that permits the Department to make regulations which provide that the members of the panel of chairmen of industrial tribunals and Fair Employment Tribunal may be referred to as employment judges.
Article 2(i) commences the provision which prohibits the Labour Relations Agency, or persons appointed by the Agency, from releasing information relating to a worker, employer of a worker, or a trade union, that they hold in the course of performing their functions.
Article 2(j) corrects a small number of references in the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992, dealing with statutory shared parental pay, which were introduced by the Work and Families Act (Northern Ireland) 2015
Article 2(k) updates legislative references in Schedules 2 and 4 to the Employment (Northern Ireland) Order 2003.
Article 2(l) and (o) gives effect to the dispute resolution repeals in Schedule 3 of the Act.
Article 2(m) and (n) gives effect to Schedules 1 and 2, which respectively, make minor and consequential amendments to existing legislation, and set out how the relevant time limits for bringing a claim will be extended where necessary to provide sufficient time for early conciliation to take place and to ensure that the claimant is not disadvantaged.
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.
Retirement
Older workers can choose when they retire and can take any occupational pension they’re entitled to. Usually the employer cannot force an employee to retire.
Disciplinary or grievance hearings
Workers have the right to take paid time off during working hours to accompany fellow workers employed by the same employer to certain disciplinary and grievance hearings.