07/10/2024

About Us

Employers Federation is a not-for-profit Organisation which has been in existence in Northern Ireland for over 100 years. We solely represent employers, predominantly in the private sector, although we also have some charitable bodies within the Membership.

We advise across an extensive range of industries including engineering, communications, fintech, technology and food. The employers we represent range in size from small to some of the largest private sector employers in Northern Ireland.

We welcome the opportunity to respond to this Consultation.

Our Response

As an Organisation we recognise the scale of domestic abuse in Northern Ireland and the need for a co-ordinated approach across government, voluntary bodies and wider society to tackle it. We also recognise that the workplace plays a key role in supporting employees. Indeed, we recently worked with Women’s Aid to help educate businesses about domestic abuse, its impact, and what they can do to support employees in the workplace.

As an employers’ Organisation, we believe it is important that the law is clear, easily understood, and that there are user friendly guides with the purpose of educating, supporting and helping employers understand their legal obligations. It is against that background that we make the following comments which we hope will be considered constructively.

Additional points to supplement the responses to the questions

Domestic violence / safe leave was one of the last Bills passed by the Executive prior to Stormont collapsing in 2022. As such we understand that it was introduced as a framework Bill and are disappointed that some of the new rights were not fully consulted on and/or costed out in a full impact assessment prior to the Bill being passed.

As stated above, Employers Federation fully supports the need for action to be taken in this area and has set out employers’ main concerns are around:

Who it applies to

Regulations should clearly specify exactly who, and in what circumstances they, will qualify for paid safe leave. We are concerned that the current proposals seem to go further than simply the person who is experiencing domestic abuse.

Payment

Employers are disappointed that they will have to fund the leave and that costs cannot be set up as a statutory payment by the Department.

We ask that this is kept under review and that the Department consider funding to support employers particularly in the SME sector. For this reason we believe that pay should be defined as basic pay only. This will avoid litigation around what is normal and also limit, to some extent, the financial exposure to the employer.

Notice

It is important that there is an obligation on the employee to notify the employer that they are taking the time off preferably before they are due to start work or as soon as possible thereafter. That notification should also state how long they expect they will be off for.

Whilst the proposal is that employers are not entitled to request evidence, it should be made clear what the employer can ask to clarify that the employee has the right to paid

time off, to establish how much time is required and ask questions around he ‘issues’ that the employee will be dealing with during the time off.

Record Keeping

This requires Guidance in terms of:

• How the employer might record safe leave on their systems
• How to record on pay slip (as the abuser may have access to the employee’s payslip)
• What records the employer will have to keep
• How the Department intends to monitor and review whether the Regulations are working effectively

Handling potential abuse of the right to leave and pay

In vast majority of cases employers recognise that this right will only be used in genuine circumstances. However, given that it is fully paid, and the notice requirements are light, it gives rise to the potential for abuse.

Employers need to understand what they can, and indeed that they are able to, ask some questions around the taking of the leave and right to pay, to ensure that the eligibility conditions are met.

There should be no liability on employers if they have a reason to investigate the circumstances surrounding the leave, if they suspect that its being misused. Any Guidance should contain appropriate examples of what the employer can do in these circumstances and raise awareness that abuse or misuse of the right could lead the employee open to disciplinary action.

Support and Guidance

We recommend that the Department or another body (such as the Labour Relations Agency or Equality Commission) produce clear Guidance on what employers can do in various situations.

This could include worked examples and should focus on what an employer should do,  not on what an employer should not do.

It is important that employers understand what they can ask without being accused of discrimination or some other breach of the Regulations.

For example, we suggest that Guidance contain cases studies and template documents

to set out:

• What (if anything) should be put in writing by the employee either before or after the
• taking of the leave
• How employers should respond to requests and notifications
• How the leave could be recorded on internal systems
• How pay should be classified on pay slips
• What can be discussed on a return to work
• Questions that are appropriate to ask and those which are not
• Employers Federation EF Consultation Response to Domestic Abuse Safe Leave
• Examples of when the right to paid time off could be refused
• Sample Domestic Abuse Policy

Dealing with difficult situations

The Department should provide examples in the Guidance on how a manager should respond to an employee who tells them they are experiencing abuse.

Additionally, Guidance should cover what should occur if a person accused of being the abuser is employed. We have knowledge of situations where an organisation employs both the abuse employee and the abuser; Guidance is necessary to help employers understand what they should do in such circumstances.

Conclusion

The statistics surrounding abuse in Northern Ireland are shocking. Our comments  above are meant to be constructive and ensure the smooth operation of this new right  and avoid ambiguity to limit litigation arising over the interpretation. We are happy to  expand on our Response should the Department believe that to be helpful.

27 September 2024