Search Results

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.

No 86 The Work and Families Act (Northern Ireland) 2015 (Commencement, Transitional Provisions and Savings) Order (Northern Ireland) 2015

These Regulations were made on 2/3/15 and provide for The Department for Employment and Learning in exercising their powers under the Work and Families Act (NI) 2015 to detail which components of the legislation will commence on 15/3/15 for the purposes of making regulations and enabling the parents of children expected to be born or placed for adoption from 5/4/15 to avail of shared parental leave and pay and associated entitlements for working parents (see Statutory Rules below – eg SR’s 95-103). 

Increase of limits on Tribunal awards and payments under employment rights legislation

The Department for the Economy has made a statutory rule entitled The Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order (Northern Ireland) 2023 (legislation.gov.uk).

The Order increases, from 6 April 2023, limits applicable to certain awards and payments under employment rights legislation in line with the Retail Prices Index.

The Department has issued a press release relating to the above changes in limits - https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/news/department-economy-announces-annual-increase-limits-unfair-dismissal-and-redundancy-payments.

For details on the limits for previous years, please access the following link https://www.legislation.gov.uk/primary+secondary?title=The%20Employment…

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.