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NORTHERN IRELAND DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMY PUBLISH RESPONSE TO GOOD JOBS/  EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS BILL PUBLIC CONSULTATION

30/04/2025

NORTHERN IRELAND DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMY PUBLISH RESPONSE TO GOOD JOBS/  EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS BILL PUBLIC CONSULTATION

On Monday 28 April 2025, the Department for Economy (DfE) published its response to the public consultation on the Good Jobs/Employment Rights Bill for Northern Ireland that closed on 30 September 2024.

According to Economy Minister, Dr Caoimhe Archibald, this marks the most significant update to employment law since the Good Friday Agreement. The Department’s response outlines proposals for new laws (including the Employment Bill and secondary legislation), statutory codes of practice, and guidance, based on 192 responses received during the Consultation.

A number of key documents have been published by the Department:

1.    Way Forward (34 pages) and

2.     Public Consultation Response” (260 pages)

3.    19 Impact Assessments

All these documents can be accessed from the home page of Good Jobs Employment Rights Bill Public Consultation Response

The Headline Proposals include:

  • Ending zero hour contracts
  • Enhancing protections for agency workers
  • Ending abuse of fire & rehire tactics
  • Ensuring workers receive all tips
  • Modernising the trade union framework
  • Making it easier to attain flexible working
  • Enhancing rights to family leave including carer’s leave, neonatal leave & pay

These Headlines will, of course, be of particular concern to Employers who are already operating very challenging economic conditions.

Some Key Points:

The Consultation was divided into four main Themes and we have set out some of the proposed changes under each theme below:

THEME A: Terms of Employment

  1. Exploitative zero-hour contracts will be abolished and replaced with a banded-hour model similar to that in the Republic of Ireland. This is different to the proposals in place in GB.

Workers on zero and low hours contracts will have the power to request a banded contract, guaranteeing a number of hours that reflect patterns of work, most likely over a 26-week period. Exclusivity clauses will be banned.

  1. Zero and low hours employees will require reasonable notice of shifts and compensation for shifts cancelled or curtailed at short notice, with further consultation planned for the details.
  2. Employee status (that is keeping the 3 categories of employee, worker and self employed) given its complexity and interaction with tax regime will be reviewed to align with the position in Great Britain.
  3. Dismissal and re-engagement (fire and rehire) will be banned, in line with the UK Government’s proposals in the GB Employment Relations Bill. New laws will be introduced to make it automatically unfair to dismiss and re-engage an employee where the reason is to effect a change in employees’ terms of conditions unless the business is in financial difficultly.
  4. Agency workers will have Day 1 rights to a Key Information Document, and employees will have Day 1 rights to written statements (mirroring GB practices). The right to a written statement of particulars and itemised payslips will also be extended to workers.
  5. The Swedish Derogation / Pay between Assignment model for agency workers will be abolished.

THEME B: Pay and Benefits:

  1. Employees will have the right to an itemised payslip showing hours worked aligned to the position in GB.
  2. The holiday pay reference period will be extended to 52 weeks again aligning with GB.
  3. A statutory Code of Practice on the “Right to Disconnect” will be introduced which is expected to be similar to the Code issued in the Republic of Ireland. The Minister plans to keep the effectiveness of a Code under review and consider if the right needs embodied in law.
  4. While there will be no additional record-keeping requirements to demonstrate compliance with the Working Time Regulations, new guidance will be introduced.

 THEME C: Voice and Representation:

  1. Trade unions will have a right of access to workplaces including digital access. This includes right to access to: promote union benefits; engaging with members; negotiating with employers. with guidance outlining engagement rules.

It is intended that employers would not be able to unreasonably withhold access to workplaces from trade union officials. However, such access will not be automatic and will require adherence to certain provisions such as only entering during reasonable times and in compliance with health and safety and security arrangements on site.

  1. The statutory recognition threshold for trade unions will be reduced from 21 to 10 employees. However, the notice period for industrial action will remain at seven days.
  2. Laws enabling e-balloting will be brought forward.
  3. Thresholds will be lowered for trade union recognition and for Information & Consultation Agreements.
  4. Collective sectoral bargaining (or collective sectoral agreements) the Department will work with the Labour Relations Agency regarding these.
  5. A Code of Practice will focus on facilitating workplace relationships and minimum set of expected behaviours as to how all parties should engage with each other, with reference to the Code in place in New Zealand.
  6. Protections for employees participating in official industrial action will be extended by removing the current 12-week protection period and eliminating any concluding time limits.
  7. Disappointingly, no changes will be made to TUPE regulations at this stage due to the Department’s view that, in light of the complexities of the legislation, further engagement would be necessary. The Department will maintain a watching brief on any planned changes in GB.

THEME D: Work-Life Balance:

  1. Employees will have Day 1 rights to flexible working, with two requests allowed per year and no obligation on the employee to set out how the request could be accommodated (matching GB policy).
  2. Carer’s leave will be introduced, allowing one week of unpaid leave initially, with provisions for statutory paid leave to be introduced in the future (matching GB policy).
  3. A new statutory right to Neonatal Leave and/or Pay will be introduced, up to a maximum of 12 weeks (aligned to position in GB)
  4. Enhanced redundancy protection will be extended to 18 months post-birth (in line with GB practices).
  5. Paternity leave will become a day-one right and can be taken within the first 52 weeks. This leave can be taken as a single block of two weeks or two separate blocks of one week.

Time line

These proposals will now be brought to the Executive for their approval and will be scrutinised by the Committee for the Economy. Any policies that are agreed by the Executive will then be translated into a Bill which the Department hopes to introduce to the Assembly early in 2026. The Department has stated that newly introduced rights will be implemented on a staged basis to ensure stakeholders have time to prepare for the changes.

We will keep Members updated on any developments and if you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact the Legal Team.