Evidence Report Findings December 2008 CAB evidence on the denial of basic employment rights   This report presents a substantial body of evidence from Citizens Advice to show that many workers in Northern Ireland are being consistently denied their most basic employment rights, for example, the right to paid holiday and the right to receive a written statement of their main terms and conditions of employment.

Introduction

In recent years there have been some major changes in the field of employment law to enhance the rights of workers. 

This has given workers key benefits and essential protection in the workplace and has enhanced the working life of many workers in Northern Ireland.

Every year, over 23,000 workers seek advice from a CAB in Northern Ireland about their basic rights at work.  In many cases this is because of a denial of their statutory employment rights by their employer, including:

• the denial of the right to a written statement of main terms and conditions of employment and/or to itemised payslips;
• the denial of the statutory right to 4.8 weeks paid holiday per year;
• the denial of statutory sick leave and pay when unable to work due to illness;
• the non-payment of the National Minimum Wage (NMW);
• being required to work long hours and/or the denial of proper rest breaks and sufficient days off from work;
• the denial of full entitlement to statutory maternity leave and pay or dismissal on account of being pregnant;
• the non-payment of wages owed and/or holiday pay and notice pay after leaving the employment, whether voluntarily or after being dismissed.

A worker who experiences a problem at work must normally raise a grievance with their employer in the first instance.  In April 2005 new laws for resolving disputes in the workplace were introduced in Northern Ireland.  However evidence received from employees, and also from advisers, shows a number of problems with the statutory grievance procedure which has been shown to be too complicated and difficult to understand confusing employees, employers and often employment advisers. 

If raising a grievance with the employer fails, depending on the nature of the grievance, the worker can make a complaint to one of five statutory enforcement bodies.  For example, to HMRC about the National Minimum Wage or the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate about employment agency standards. 

However, if the complaint is not about any of the above issues then there is no statutory enforcement body to which workers can make complaints.  The only way for an aggrieved worker to pursue their employment rights if negotiation with their employer fails, is to pursue a complaint through the Industrial Tribunal system. 

The Industrial Tribunal process has significant limitations as a route of redress because it is extremely inefficient, costly and legalistic and this discourages many workers from asserting their rights. 

Main Findings

Statutory rights are the minimum basic rights which are enforceable in law.  Workers across Northern Ireland continue to report to CABx that they are not in receipt of even their most basic employment rights.

Written statement of main terms and conditions of employment
Within two months of beginning employment a worker is entitled by law to be given a written statement setting out the main particulars of their employment.  The fact that many employees are being denied this statement of main terms and conditions means they are at an automatic disadvantage in knowing what their rights are at work and in turn being able to enforce them. 

Working Time
CAB evidence suggests that many workers are not being provided with their entitlements under the Working Time legislation and in some cases workers are simply being exploited by working long hours without any rest breaks.

Holiday leave and pay
This is one of the largest areas of enquiry to CAB.  Evidence from CAB highlights a number of issues in relation to holiday pay and leave including the denial of the correct holiday entitlement, the denial of holiday pay and being incorrectly informed by the employer that the legislation does not apply to the worker because, for example, they work part-time or because they work for a small employer.

Maternity leave and pay
Evidence received by Citizens Advice shows that some women face dismissal simply for telling their employer that they are pregnant.  Others have experienced problems asserting their rights to maternity leave and pay, faced a lack of support for their changing health needs including a denial of their legal right to paid time off to attend ante-natal appointments or have experienced problems on their return to work.

The most common issues in relation to pay reported to CAB include the non-receipt of itemised pay statements, unauthorised deductions from wages, entitlement to the NMW at the correct rate and the non-payment of tax and national insurance by employers.

Statutory Sick Pay
Most of the evidence received by CAB in relation to Statutory Sick Pay is about entitlement, with evidence that some employers flatly refuse to pay SSP, pay it at an incorrect rate or in some cases actually dismiss workers.

Discipline and Dismissal
There is evidence to suggest that some employers do not follow the statutory procedures for disciplining and dismissing workers and many have not provided details of their procedures to their workers.  For some workers the very fact of raising a grievance at work even informally can lead to dismissal.  CAB evidence also suggests that some workers are dismissed for no apparent reason without any previous problems or warnings being given. 

Redundancy
CAB has evidence of workers not getting their rightful entitlement to redundancy pay and in some cases being refused redundancy pay altogether. 

Migrant workers
CAB evidence suggests an almost invariable failure by employers to provide migrant workers with a contract of employment and/or proper pay slips.  A reality of extremely long hours and low rates of pay coupled with the denial of other basic employment rights such as the right to paid holiday and sick pay exists for many migrant workers in Northern Ireland.

Case Studies 

A Polish client of Dungannon CAB had been working for a local employer and informed her employer that she was pregnant.  She was then summarily dismissed.  The CAB adviser helped her to issue proceedings against her employer and the case was settled to the client’s satisfaction for substantial compensation.

A client of Portadown CAB has been off work sick for 5 weeks but when she asked her employer about sick pay she was told they don’t “do” SSP.  The CAB adviser provided the client with information about her rights to SSP and how to pursue the issue with her employer.

A client of L’Derry CAB has been working 8 hour shifts for her employer since May 2006.  She is only being paid for 6 hours despite her hourly wage rate being expressly stated in her contract.  The client has raised this issue verbally with her employer but her employer has done nothing about this.  The client sought advice from CAB and was provided with information on how to raise a grievance with her employer.