What is the correct statutory definition of the words “Employer” and “Employee” and why are they important in employment law?

The words ‘Employee’ and ‘Employer’ are not regularly defined in Northern Irish employment legislation.

However a few pieces of legislation do provide the statutory definition of both terms. As per the Industrial Tribunals (NI) Order 1996, the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 and the Fixed Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations (NI) 2002, the statutory definition of an ‘Employee’ is “an individual who has entered into or works under or where the employment has ceased, worked under a contract of employment.”

The statutory definition of ‘Employer’, as per the same legislation, is “in relation to an employee, the person by whom the employee is or