What notice should employees give in order to take parental bereavement leave?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 01/03/2022 The rules regarding notification will be set out in the forthcoming regulations. However, by way of indication, we expect that that new rules will largely correspond with those applicable in Great Britain. In order to take parental bereavement leave in Great Britain, employees must give the employe...

Parental Bereavement Leave - What protections rights does an employee have?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 01/03/2022 Parents taking parental bereavement leave will be entitled to the same employment protections as those associated with other forms of family related leave i.e. maternity, paternity, adoption, parental and shared parental leave. This will include protection from detriment and dismissal as a result o...

What is the rate of paid parental bereavement leave and how will it be calculated?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 01/03/2022 Employees on parental bereavement leave may also be entitled to statutory parental bereavement pay if they can satisfy certain statutory eligibility criteria. In summary, the employee must: Be in employed by you for a continuous period of at least 26 weeks; Remain in that employment at least until...

Who is entitled to parental bereavement leave under the Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Bill?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 01/03/2022 On 7 February 2022, the Northern Ireland Assembly passed the Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Bill. It is anticipated that the new legislation will come into effect in April 2022, once the Bill has received Royal Assent and when further details have been set out in the accompanying regulations....

What is the law in Northern Ireland with regards to gender pay gap reporting?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 01/02/2022 The law in relation to gender pay gap reporting is set out in section 19 of the Employment Act (Northern Ireland) 2016. Section 19 specified that, no later than 30 June 2017, regulations were to be published and contain details of the regime. As a result of the collapse of the Northern Ireland Asse...

What are the rights of employees and workers to receive a payslip?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 01/02/2022 Currently, under Article 40 of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996, it is only an employee who has the right to be given a written itemised pay statement from his employer which shall contain particulars such as: The gross amount of wages or salary; Amounts of any variable and fixe...

What effect will the Employment (Zero Hours Workers and Banded Weekly Working Hours) Bill have on zero hour contracted workers?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 01/02/2022 The Employment (Zero Hours Workers and Banded Weekly Working Hours) Bill was introduced to the Northern Ireland Assembly on the 15 November and is currently scheduled for the Second Stage. The Bill seeks to replace zero hours contracts with banded hours, giving workers entitlement to minimum and ma...

Where an agency worker and a direct recruit are paid the same but the agency worker works longer hours, is there a breach of the Agency Workers Regulations (NI) 2011?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 07/12/2021 The purpose of the Agency Workers Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011 is to ensure equal treatment of agency workers and permanent workers. The Court of Appeal, in Kocur v Angard Staffing Ltd and another [2019], determined that the Agency Workers Regulation 2010 (the English equivalent to the Agenc...

Where an individual is recruited under the government-funded JobStart Scheme, do they acquire the status of an employee and would the statutory rights and obligations of employees apply?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 07/12/2021 Employers can apply under the JobStart Scheme for funding to cover the following employment costs: 100% of the National Minimum Wage (or the National Living Wage depending on the age of the participant) for 25 hours per week for a total of 6 months (or 9 months for a young person who meets additio...

Where an employee who has been made redundent is invited to apply for another role with an employer, are they entitled to claim statutory redundency payment if the decide not to apply?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 07/12/2021 Employees with at least two years’ continuous employment are entitled to a redundancy payment when they are dismissed by reason of redundancy. It is a question of fact whether an employee has firstly been dismissed and secondly whether it is by reason of redundancy. For example, an employee is not ...