McKinty and Wright Solicitors - Northern Ireland Based Solicitors, Lawyers Belfast.

Significant new employment laws have been introduced by the Work & Families (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 in an effort to further the Government’s aim of establishing a balanced package of rights and responsibilities for both employers and employees.

Many employers will have been focusing on the advent of age discrimination law and may not appreciate the extent of these changes and their impact on business. The new laws include changes to:

The Order and associated Regulations enhance rights to maternity leave and pay but also address the often vexed areas of contact between employer and employee during maternity leave and notification of the employee’s return to work date.

· increased maternity pay – extension of paid maternity leave from 6 to 9 months. It is intended to further extend this period to 12 months by 2010.

· extended eligibility for additional maternity leave – the current requirement for a woman to meet a minimum period of employment before qualifying for a full 12 months of maternity leave is abolished. All employees will be entitled to 6 months Ordinary Maternity Leave and 6 months Additional Maternity Leave regardless of length of service.

· “keeping in touch” days – where the employer and employee both agree the employee on maternity leave can go into work for up to 10 days without losing her right to leave or maternity pay. Work in this context is not limited to the employee’s usual job and includes training or any activity undertaken for the purposes of keeping in touch with the workplace. The employee can pursue a Tribunal claim against her employer if she is subjected to detriment or dismissal by reason of either undertaking or refusing to undertake any such work. For example, she cannot be penalised for refusing to take up a keeping in touch day. It is expected that the employee will be paid for any work done but the amount will be subject to agreement.

· reasonable contact – it is made explicit that employers can make reasonable contact with an employee during the leave period. Employers should agree with the employee on the type of contact.

· return date – an employee who is not planning to take all of the Additional Maternity Leave must give 8 weeks notice of her return date instead of the current 28 days. Similarly she must give 8 weeks notice of any change to that date.

The right to 9 months Statutory Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance will have an obvious impact for employers. Hopefully this will be eased somewhat by the improved employer/employee communication during the leave period and the new arrangements should enable employers to plan ahead and manage the leave with greater certainty.

Currently the right to request flexible working is available only to parents of children under 6 years of age and disabled children. From April 2007 the right will be extended to carers of adults including those caring for spouses, parents or partners. It has been estimated that 1 adult in 8 is a carer and there are 3.5 million carers in employment in the UK. The effect of these changes on businesses is likely to be significant.

Fathers will benefit from a new right to 26 weeks additional Paternity Leave. However, this right is not anticipated to take effect until 2010. Broadly, the aim is to allow fathers to benefit from leave and statutory pay if the mother returns to work before the child’s first birthday. Details of the proposed arrangements are awaited.

Considerable resources will have to be employed by businesses to meet these changes. This will be money well spent. Whilst it would appear that many employers hold a positive view on these new provisions and the issue of flexible working generally, businesses run the risk of costly and protracted Tribunal complaints should they fail to adjust their practices accordingly. Employers need to:

· Conduct a thorough review of all policies and procedures to bring them into line with the forthcoming changes. In particular maternity and flexible working policies.