NORTHERN Ireland’s employment laws are being left behind due to the absence of an executive at Stormont, a leading practitioner has warned.

Ian McFarland is an employment partner at Eversheds Sutherland Belfast. He said the north is increasingly falling behind the pace of new legislation in both the Republic and in Britain.

New employment protections have recently been enacted in Britain, including new legal rights for parents of children requiring neonatal care; the right to unpaid leave for employees with caring responsibilities; protection for workers who receive tips; and increased rights for employees, on or recently returned, from family leave in a redundancy situation.

He said parents across the border in the Republic have also been granted stronger working rights to avail of breastfeeding breaks, and unpaid leave for carers for medical purposes, through provisions in the Work Life Balance Act.

Meanwhile, legislation to introduce new rights and protections for Northern Ireland workers remain on hold due to the lack of a functioning executive.

The list of legislation includes requirements for gender pay gap reporting, allowance for domestic abuse ‘safe leave’, and protections for zero-hours workers.

Last week the Department for the Economy published the ‘10X Delivery Plan 2023/24’, which included commitments to ensure “employment relations framework remains fit for purpose”.

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