During the summer the Department for the Economy launched the ‘Good Jobs’ Employment Rights Bill consultation which sets out significant, potential reforms to Northern Ireland employment law, including proposed changes to terms of employment, pay and benefits, voice and representation and work-life balance laws.
This has been long anticipated and is far reaching, covering many areas of employment law. Ahead of the consultation’s closure on September 30, Lewis Silkin is urging employers in Northern Ireland to engage with the consultation process, as its outcomes may impact businesses across the country.
To this end, we have embarked on a unique exercise to harvest the views and opinions from business leaders which will inform a collective response providing government with a strong impression of the business community’s reaction.
Some of the proposed changes, such as a potential overhaul of zero-hour contracts, a right to disconnect outside of work, how holiday pay is calculated and increasing trade unions’ rights to access workplaces, have the potential to significantly impact employers right across Northern Ireland.
As the first major employment law consultation in Northern Ireland in over ten years, it is an important time for employers across NI to engage with the proposals and share their views on how the potential changes could impact their businesses.
The proposed Bill covers a wide range of employment rights including ‘voice and representation’ proposals such as a reduction in the number of employees that unions need to seek formal recognition in workplaces.
Also noted are proposed pay and benefits changes including fair and transparent allocation of tips to workers, extending the right to a payslip and clarity of payslip information.
Work-life balance reforms are also on the table with proposed reforms including a right to request flexible working from the first day of employment, one week’s carer’s leave (potentially paid), extended redundancy protection for pregnant employees and family leave returners and enhanced paternity and neonatal leave.
There are some surprises: access to apprenticeship levy funds, a two-year backstop protection for holiday claims, a day one right to unfair dismissal and restrictions on probationary periods did not make it into the consultation. It remains to be seen whether these do come up through the consultation process or indeed feature in any new Employment Bill.
Lewis Silkin has issued its survey of key areas and aspects of the consultation to inform our response to the consultation. Our survey is open to businesses and organisations until September 12 and will be supplemented by a face-to-face event in Belfast’s Grand Central Hotel on September 10, where our team will provide an analysis on survey results so far, the proposed reforms and their likely impact for businesses.
We welcome this consultation, and with the potential changes proposed, employers across Northern Ireland should take this opportunity to share thoughts and insights to help shape our consultation response.
We want to collate responses from businesses from a wide range of sectors to ensure we provide a thorough, diverse and all-encompassing response to the consultation. We are encouraging all stakeholders to engage in this, either through our survey or by responding directly to the Department’s consultation to give a voice to businesses in this important process.
- Paul Gillen is partner at Lewis Silkin