New employment right for NI workers

The Department for Employment and Learning has announced that all Northern Ireland workers can now avail of a new right to be accompanied at disciplinary and grievance hearings.

This new right is intended to protect workers from intimidation and assist those who may have difficulties in representing themselves.

During disciplinary and grievance proceedings, workers can choose to be accompanied by a companion, a trade union official or a work colleague, who will be able to address the hearing, as well as advise and confer with the worker concerned.

Many public and private sector employers already make provision for their workers to be accompanied at disciplinary and grievance hearings and this new statutory provision now embeds this already widely accepted principle of “the right to be accompanied” as a statutory employment right for all Northern Ireland workers.

The right, which is contained in The Employment Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1999, came into operation on June 2, 2002.

(MB)