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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.”

The Industrial Tribunals and Fair Employment Tribunal (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2020

These Regulations and Rules of Procedure establish requirements in relation to proceedings before industrial tribunals (ITs) and the Fair Employment Tribunal (FET). They revoke and replace earlier regulations and rules which separately dealt with these tribunals. The 2020 Regulations provide a revised and consolidated text for the rules and procedures of the industrial tribunals and the Fair Employment Tribunal while simplifying language and structure, being consistent with better regulation principles. The 2020 Regulations also take account of the introduction of Early Conciliation; in particular setting out the implications arising from the adherence, or non-adherence, to the requirements of Early Conciliation.

The Industrial Court (Membership) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2022

These Regulations amend the Industrial Court (Membership) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011 (the “Membership Regulations”).

Regulation 2 amends regulation 3 of the Membership Regulations by removing a number of the current legislative provisions in relation to members of the Industrial Court (the “Court”) holding and vacating office and replacing those provisions with a reliance on each member’s terms of appointment.

Regulation 3 contains a transitional provision for current members of the Court.

The Court is a non-departmental tribunal body whose main function is to adjudicate on applications relating to the statutory recognition or derecognition of trade unions for collective bargaining purposes, where this cannot be agreed voluntarily.

The Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (Persons Abroad and Mariners) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2022

These Regulations relate to the treatment under Part 12ZD of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 of persons abroad, persons who work as mariners and persons who work on the continental shelf. The effect is that certain persons who would otherwise not fulfil the qualifying conditions for entitlement to statutory parental bereavement pay because of the nature of their employment or the fact that they are outside the United Kingdom will have an entitlement to such pay.

Regulation 4 limits the application of the Regulations to cases where the person would be treated as an employee under Part 12ZD of the Act if the employment were in Northern Ireland.

Regulation 5 provides for a person who is absent from Northern Ireland but in respect of whom an employer has secondary Class 1 national insurance contribution liability to be treated as an employee for the purposes of the Part 12ZD.

Regulation 6 relaxes any time limit imposed by Part 12ZD of the Act or regulations made under it in relation to a person who cannot comply with the time limit because that person is outside the United Kingdom.

Regulation 7 treats certain classes of mariners as employees for the purposes of Part 12ZD and regulation 8 makes corresponding provision for persons working on the continental shelf

Service Standards

The Agency's service standards are set out in our Customer Charter. Any complaint about the delivery of an Agency service can be brought to a Director of the Agency.

We will fully investigate the complaint and respond within ten working days. If the person complaining is not satisfied with the response he/she can raise it with the Chief Executive who will reply within ten working days.

If the individual is still not satisfied he/she can refer the matter to the Ombudsman. A copy of the Agency’s Customer Complaints Procedure, which includes guidance on raising a complaint is available from the Agency or can be downloaded here.

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.