First Tuesday Q&A

The claimant was dismissed by reason of gross misconduct and in particular.

Can an employer use an unpaid work trial as part of a recruitment process?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 06/08/2019 Work trials can be a useful tool for employers and can form a legitimate part of a recruitment exercise by enabling employers to observe how a candidate performs in a real work setting before formally choosing to hire the candidate. If the candidate performs to a high standard during the trial peri...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Working Time Pay

Is personal data held on a workplace messenger disclosable under a SAR for an ex-employee?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 06/08/2019 Article 15 of the GDPR, gives data subjects the right to access personal data held about them by a data controller, usually via a subject access request (“SAR”). Messages sent via a workplace messenger which involve the data subject would likely have to be disclosed as part of a subject access requ...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Data Protection and GDPR

Is it lawful for an employer only to provide payslips electronically to employees?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 06/08/2019 The law governing payslips is set out under Article 40 of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 (“ERO”) which, in short, requires employees to be given a written itemised pay statement. In terms of the provision of electronic payslips, the above legislation raises two questions: Doe...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Contracts of Employment Pay

When is mandatory overtime payable to employees?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 02/07/2019 There is no entitlement for workers to be paid for working extra hours, regardless if it is mandatory or not, unless there is provision for paid overtime in the workers’ contracts of employment. If a contract contains a provision for the requirement of overtime and the rate it would be paid at, fai...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Pay

Does the “use it or lose it” principle still apply to annual leave?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 02/07/2019 Annual leave is governed by the Working Time Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 (“WTR (NI)”). Under these regulations (which implement the Working Time Directive (“WTD”)), an employee in is entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks annual leave. The legislation differentiates between the WTD entitlement ...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Working Time

Can an employee lawfully waive their right to notice?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 02/07/2019 Article 118(3) of the ERO 1996 provides the statutory basis for waiving the right to receive notice (by either party). However, it is prudent for any such waiver to be carefully documented to safeguard the employer against any future disputes as to whether consent was freely given. It is also prude...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Policies and Procedures Pay

Contacting bereaved employees – how do I handle it?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 04/06/2019 Firstly, an employer is not obligated to grant compassionate leave in the event of a bereavement, except in the limited circumstances outlined in the statutory right to time off for dependents under Article 85A of the Employment Rights (NI) Order 1996. Nevertheless, many employers will provide...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Absence and Sickness Contracts of Employment Policies and Procedures

Communicating a pay rise to an employee – what do I need to provide?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 04/06/2019 Under article 33(2) of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 (“ER(NI)O”), an employer is required to provide an employee with an initial written statement of their employment particulars not later than two months after employment commences. This statement includes ‘the scale or rate ...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Contracts of Employment Pay

GDPR implications of providing employee information in a TUPE situation

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 04/06/2019 In a TUPE transfer, the transferor (former employer) must provide the transferee (new employer) with employee liability information in relation to the transferring employees as set out under Regulation 11 of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (“TUPE”) This in...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Data Protection and GDPR Transfer of Undertaking (TUPE)

Can an employer disclose a departing employee’s restrictive covenants to their new employer?

Posted in: First Tuesday Q&A NI on 04/06/2019 It is standard course for an employer to notify a departing employee’s new employer of any post-termination restrictions in place. Often this will simply be by cutting and pasting across the relevant sections from the employee’s contract of employment. An employee’s contract of employment wil...
This article is listed under the following topics:
Contracts of Employment Data Protection and GDPR