Employment

A growing backlog in Northern Ireland's employment tribunals is creating an access to justice crisis, lawyers have warned. Killymeal House, the home of the Industrial Tribunals and the Fair Employment Tribunal, is currently "closed until further notice".

Judith Curtin, partner at O'Flynn Exhams Solicitors LLP, looks at the new Code of Practice on bullying. The Code of Practice for Employers and Employees on the Prevention and Resolution of Bullying at Work came into effect on 23 December 2020.

Employment law solicitor Richard Grogan considers Fixed Term Work Act contracts and their interaction with the Unfair Dismissal Acts 1977-2015 and the Maternity Protection Act 1994. There are very strict time limits in the Workplace Relations Act 2015. Under section 44(3), an appeal to the Labour Co

Ireland has joined eight other member states in raising concerns about a proposed directive on adequate minimum wages across the European Union. Tánaiste Leo Varadkar was among the signatories of a letter sent to the EU presidency, currently held by Germany, at the end of January which says t

William Fry partners Louise Harrison and Nuala Clayton examine a case in which the rejection of an employee's request to work from home constituted constructive dismissal. In a recent decision, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) found that an employee was constructively dismissed when her empl

Dr David Begg, a former general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), has been appointed as chairperson of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC). He will serve for a five-year term as the second-ever chairperson of the WRC since its establishment under the landmark Workplace Rel

Employment law solicitor Richard Grogan considers Fixed Term Work Act contracts and their interaction with the Unfair Dismissal Acts 1977-2015 and the Maternity Protection Act 1994. The Labour Court, in a recent case of Akina Dada Wa Africa and Claudia Horeau UDD/18/237, determination number UDD216,

Employment law solicitor Richard Grogan of Richard Grogan & Associates looks at the increasingly prominent issue of dismissing an employee who is sick or ill. At present in Ireland there is no statutory sick leave scheme. This is likely to come in. The issue that has yet to be addressed is wheth

Legislation providing for parental bereavement leave and pay will be brought to the Northern Ireland Assembly following the completion of a consultation. Economy Minister Diane Dodds has published her Department's assessment and response to the two-month consultation, which closed in August.

Employment rights enshrined in EU law are set to be scrapped in the UK following Brexit, according to reports. Business leaders have been "sounded out" on plans to do away with the likes of the EU Working Time Directive, FT said this morning.

Employment lawyer Natasha Hand examines a case concerning alleged discrimination on the race ground in a company's sick pay scheme. In case ADJ-00027767, the case of Krzysztof Tryka and Thermal Insulation Distributors Limited, an employee claimed that the company's sick pay scheme was applied less f

The Workplace Relations Commission has launched a public consultation on the drafting of a new code of practice on the "right to disconnect". The code will set out guidance for employees and employers with regard to best practice and approaches to employee disengagement outside normal working hours.

Employment law solicitor Richard Grogan of Richard Grogan & Associates the importance of often-overlooked working time records. The issue of working time records arose in case ADJ-00028251. The Adjudication Officer in this case quoted the provisions of section 25 of the Organisation of Work

Parents are set to be given an additional three weeks of paid parent's leave under plans agreed by ministers yesterday. New legislation to be introduced next year will expand the current entitlement for two weeks of paid parent's leave under the Parent's Leave and Benefit Act 2019.

The suspension of laws allowing employees to demand redundancy after a certain length of temporary lay-off has been extended until the end of March 2021. The move is intended to help avoid further permanent job losses at a time when some 350,000 people are in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Pay