NI Employment Law: What We Learned Last Quarter (Q3 2022)

What We Learned Last Quarter – November 2022

Legal Island's Learning and Development team have collated all of the updates we sent our 1,000+ Employment Law Hub subscribers in Q3 2022. 

In a quarter that saw the seasons change, Stormont remaining empty, Matt Hancock somehow being branded a ‘celebrity’ and a revolving door being installed in Downing Street, here’s the latest employment law trends to keep on your radar.

Cost of Living

The imminent recession and the impact on both employees and businesses continued to hit the headlines this quarter.

Joanna Mackey of Lewis Silkin provided answers to your frequently asked questions on this tricky topic.

Chris Fullerton of Arthur Cox gave some useful advice on the employment issues arising from the cost of living crisis. While Seamus McGranaghan of O’Reilly Stewart offered his thoughts on employees taking on second jobs to boost their income – should you care?

Industrial Relations

It may now be legal to cover striking workers with temporary staff, but an increasing number of recruitment agencies are refusing to supply staff. What are the ethical and legal considerations for HR? Personnel Today considered the issues for HR in dealing with the difficult decision of whether to bring in temporary staff from agencies to cover striking employees – given this is now technically legal – or manage workloads with fewer staff.

An article from lus Laboris explores whether it is legal to dismiss workers for going on strike around the world in their global survey.

Recruitment

The CIPD’s Resourcing and talent planning report 2022, produced in partnership with Omni RMS, explored the difficulties that UK employers are facing in recruiting and retaining people during the cost-of-living crisis. Now in its 23rd year, the report and supplementary case studies help employers, and their people teams make informed decisions about people management and investment.

Need some tips on recruitment, branding and Employee Value Proposition to stand out in this competitive labour market? Catch up with Ryan Calvert of MCS Group in his useful webinar on this very topic.

And should you be changing your recruitment procedures? – is the cover letter dead? Olga Pollock of Firmus Energy offers her take.

Brexit Freedoms Bill

A major shake-up of Northern Irish employment legislation is on the cards, complicated by there being no functioning Northern Ireland Executive, or Assembly in Northern Ireland. 

In his webinar in October, Seamus McGranaghan of O’Reilly Stewart Solicitors debated whether the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill is a bonfire of worker’s rights, as suggested by the tabloids – the answer? Well, yes potentially!

Ciara Fulton and Michael Morris from Lewis Silkin, consider the potential implications of the Brexit Freedoms Bill for employment laws in Northern Ireland, especially in light of the commitments given to protect Good Friday Agreement rights and the EU Directives that underpin those rights.

Legislation

And if that wasn’t enough, Legal Island and Lewis Silkin published an updated version of the Comparative Employment Law Table: Ireland, Northern Ireland and Great Britain, outlining the key differences between the employment laws of all three areas in one handy resource for HR professionals working across different jurisdictions.

Menopause

In October, we marked International Menopause Day with an ‘In Brief’ Special discussing how this can be supported in the workplace with links and information on the different resources available.  This included our own eLearning training aimed at increasing awareness within your organisation.  You can ask for a demo here.

Annual Review of Employment Law 2022

Our flagship Annual Review of Employment Law 2022 took place on the 16^th and 17^th November and proved to be a fabulous few days of great speakers, interesting sessions and lively panel discussions. To use your words, it was ‘thought-provoking’! Great to see you there and if you missed out, check out how you can get hold of a digital bundle of video and notes here.

Looking Ahead

Are you planning your first office get-together since Covid in December? If you didn't get a chance to tune in to Employment Law at 11 on Friday 2^nd December when Seamus provided some cautionary tales and plenty of practical advice to avoid your staff festive outings going ‘Christmas Crackers’! (and what to do if it does!) you can catch up with the recording.