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No 199 (C 12) The Employment Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 (Commencement No. 1) Order (Northern Ireland) 2017
This Commencement Order brings into effect in Northern Ireland, as of 1/10/17, reforms to the Public Interest Disclosure (commonly referred to as the Whistle-Blowing legislation) which have been implemented in Great Britain between 2013 and 2015.
No 302 The Labour Relations Agency Arbitration Scheme (Jurisdiction) Order (Northern Ireland) 2012
This Order utilises the power vested in the Department for Employment and Learning to permit the Labour Relations Agency to prepare an arbitration scheme for dealing with disputes which are or could become the subject of industrial tribunal proceedings.
137 Health and Personal Social Services (Disciplinary Procedures) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996
These Regulations replace the existing provisions which were derived from the 1973 Regulations.
440 The Disability Discrimination (Description of Insurance Services) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999
These Regulations make disability discrimination by an insurer against an employee unlawful as according to S.18 of the Disability Discrimination Act (1995).
No 138 The Smoke-Free (Exemptions, Vehicles, Penalties and Discounted Amounts) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007
These regulations provide for exemptions under the Smoking (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 and provide for most public and work vehicles to be smoke-free under the order.
274 (C.10) Employment Rights (Dispute Resolution) (1998 Order) (Commencement No. 1 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Order (Northern Ireland) 1998
This Order brings into operation various aspects of the 1998 Order including Schedules 1, 2 and 3 at the respective times of 8th August 1998, 1st October 1998 and 1st January 1999.
No. 40 The Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order (Northern Ireland) 2020
This Order alters the rates and amounts of certain social security benefits and other sums from a variety of dates in early April 2020. In relation to employment the rates in these regulations cover - Statutory Sick Pay, Maternity Pay, Paternity pay and Parental pay.
No.91 The Employment (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 (Amendment of Schedules 2,3 and 4) Order (Northern Ireland) 2007
This Order amends the statutory dispute resolution procedures by widening the jurisdictions coverage (see schedules 2, 3 and 4) by adding information and consultation representatives of employees in the context of: European Public limited-liability companies, occupational and personal pension schemes and Information and Consultation of Employees.
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.