Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland 1998 No. 386
Working Time Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998
- continued

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Part V

Special Classes of Person

Agency workers not otherwise "workers"
     35.  - (1) This regulation applies in any case where an individual ("the agency worker")-

    (a) is supplied by a person ("the agent") to do work for another ("the principal") under a contract or other arrangements made between the agent and the principal; but

    (b) is not, as respects that work, a worker, because of the absence of a worker's contract between the individual and the agent or the principal; and

    (c) is not a party to a contract under which he undertakes to do the work for another party to the contract whose status is, by virtue of the contract, that of a client or customer of any profession or business undertaking carried on by the individual.

    (2) In a case where this regulation applies, the other provisions of these Regulations shall have effect as if there were a worker's contract for the doing of the work by the agency worker made between the agency worker and-

    (a) whichever of the agent and the principal is responsible for paying the agency worker in respect of the work; or

    (b) if neither the agent nor the principal is so responsible, whichever of them pays the agency worker in respect of the work,

and as if that person were the agency worker's employer.

Crown employment
    
36.  - (1) Subject to paragraph (4) and regulation 37, these Regulations have effect in relation to Crown employment and persons in Crown employment as they have effect in relation to other employment and other workers.

    (2) In paragraph (1) "Crown employment" means employment under or for the purposes of a government department or any officer or body exercising on behalf of the Crown functions conferred by a statutory provision.

    (3) For the purposes of the application of the provisions of these Regulations in relation to Crown employment in accordance with paragraph (1)-

    (4) No act or omission by the Crown which is an offence under regulation 29 shall make the Crown criminally liable, but the High Court may, on the application of a person appearing to the Court to have an interest, declare any such act or omission unlawful.

Armed forces
    
37.  - (1) Regulation 36 applies-

    (2) No complaint concerning the service of any person as a member of the armed forces may be presented to an industrial tribunal under regulation 30 unless-

    (a) that person has made a complaint in respect of the same matter to an officer under the service redress procedures, and

    (b) that complaint has not been withdrawn.

    (3) For the purposes of paragraph (2)(b), a person shall be treated as having withdrawn his complaint if, having made a complaint to an officer under the service redress procedures, he fails to submit the complaint to the Defence Council under those procedures.

    (4) Where a complaint of the kind referred to in paragraph (2) is presented to an industrial tribunal, the service redress procedures may continue after the complaint is presented.

    (5) In this regulation, "the service redress procedures" means the procedures, excluding those which relate to the making of a report on a complaint to Her Majesty, referred to in section 180 of the Army Act 1955[22], section 180 of the Air Force Act 1955[23] and section 130 of the Naval Discipline Act 1957[24][25].

Police service
     38.  - (1) For the purposes of these Regulations, the holding, otherwise than under a contract of employment, of the office of constable shall be treated as employment, under a worker's contract, by the relevant officer.

    (2) Any matter relating to the employment of a worker which may be provided for for the purposes of these Regulations in a workforce agreement may be provided for for the same purposes in relation to the service of a person holding the office of constable by an agreement between the relevant officer and the central committee.

    (3) In this regulation-

    "the relevant officer" means-

    (a) in relation to a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary or the Royal Ulster Constabulary Reserve, the chief constable;

    (b) in relation to a person holding office under section 9(1)(b) of the Police Act 1997[27] (police members of the National Criminal Intelligence Service), the Director General of the National Criminal Intelligence Service; and

    (c) in relation to any other person holding the office of constable, the person who has the direction and control of the body of constables in question.

Non-employed trainees
     39. For the purposes of these Regulations, a person receiving relevant training, otherwise than under a contract of employment, shall be regarded as a worker, and the person whose undertaking is providing the training shall be regarded as his employer.

Agricultural workers
    
40. The provisions of Schedule 2 have effect in relation to workers employed in agriculture.



Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Economic Development on

L.S.


G.I. O'Doherty
Assistant Secretary

4th November 1998.



SCHEDULE 1
Regulation 2


Workforce Agreements


     1. An agreement is a workforce agreement for the purposes of these Regulations if the following conditions are satisfied-

    (a) the agreement is in writing;

    (b) it has effect for a specified period not exceeding five years;

    (c) it applies either-

      (i) to all of the relevant members of the workforce, or

      (ii) to all of the relevant members of the workforce who belong to a particular group;

    (d) the agreement is signed-

      (i) in the case of an agreement of the kind referred to in sub-paragraph (c)(i), by the representatives of the workforce, and in the case of an agreement of the kind referred to in sub-paragraph (c)(ii) by the representatives of the group to which the agreement applies (excluding, in either case, any representative not a relevant member of the workforce on the date on which the agreement was first made available for signature), or

      (ii) if the employer employed 20 or fewer workers on the date referred to in sub-paragraph (d)(i), either by the appropriate representatives in accordance with that sub-paragraph or by the majority of the workers employed by him;

    (e) before the agreement was made available for signature, the employer provided all the workers to whom it was intended to apply on the date on which it came into effect with copies of the text of the agreement and such guidance as those workers might reasonably require in order to understand it fully.

     2. For the purposes of this Schedule-

    "a particular group" is a group of the relevant members of a workforce who undertake a particular function, work at a particular workplace or belong to a particular department or unit within the employer's business;

    "relevant members of the workforce" are all of the workers employed by a particular employer, excluding any worker whose terms and conditions of employment are provided for, wholly or in part, in a collective agreement;

    "representatives of the workforce" are workers duly elected to represent the relevant members of the workforce, "representatives of the group" are workers duly elected to represent the members of a particular group, and representatives are "duly elected" if the election at which they were elected satisfied the requirements of paragraph 3.

     3. The requirements concerning elections referred to in paragraph 2 are that-

    (a) the number of representatives to be elected is determined by the employer;

    (b) the candidates for election as representatives of the workforce are relevant members of the workforce, and the candidates for election as representatives of a group are members of the group;

    (c) no worker who is eligible to be a candidate is unreasonably excluded from standing for election;

    (d) all the relevant members of the workforce are entitled to vote for representatives of the workforce, and all the members of a particular group, are entitled to vote for representatives of the group;

    (e) the workers entitled to vote may vote for as many candidates as there are representatives to be elected;

    (f) the election is conducted so as to secure that-

      (i) so far as is reasonably practicable, those voting do so in secret, and

      (ii) the votes given at the election are fairly and accurately counted.



SCHEDULE 2
Regulations 13(4), 15(6) and 40


Workers employed in Agriculture


     1. Except where, in the case of a worker partly employed in agriculture, different provision is made by a relevant agreement-

    (a) for the purposes of regulation 13, the leave year of a worker employed in agriculture begins on 6th April each year or such other date as may be specified in an agricultural wages order which applies to him; and

    (b) the dates on which leave is taken by a worker employed in agriculture shall be determined in accordance with an agricultural wages order which applies to him.

     2. Where, in the case referred to in paragraph 1, a relevant agreement makes provision different from sub-paragraph (a) or (b) of that paragraph-

     3. In this Schedule, "an agricultural wages order" means an order under Article 4 or 8 of the Agricultural Wages (Regulation) (Northern Ireland) Order 1977.



EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)


These Regulations implement Council Directive 93/104/EC concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time (O.J. No. L307, 13.12.93, p. 18) and provisions concerning working time in Council Directive 94/33/EC on the protection of young people at work (O.J. No. L216, 20.8.94, p. 12). The provisions in the latter Directive which are implemented relate only to adolescents (those who have not attained the age of 18 and are over compulsory school age). Provisions in that Directive relating to children have been implemented by or under the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995, S.I. 1995/755 (N.I. 2). Provisions implementing that Directive in relation to adolescents employed on ships are included in the Merchant Shipping and Fishing Vessels (Health and Safety at Work) (Employment of Young Persons) Regulations 1998, S.I. 1998/2411, and adolescents employed on ships are accordingly excluded from the scope of these Regulations (regulation 26).

Regulations 4 to 9 in these Regulations impose obligations on employers, enforceable by the Department of Economic Development and district councils; failure to comply is an offence. The obligations concern the maximum average weekly working time of workers (subject to provision for individual workers to agree that the maximum should not apply to them), the average normal hours of night workers, the provision of health assessments for night workers, and rest breaks to be given to workers engaged in certain kinds of work; employers are also required to keep records of workers' hours of work.

Regulations 10 to 17 confer rights on workers, enforceable by proceedings before industrial tribunals. The rights are to a rest period in every 24 hours during which a worker works for his employer and longer rest periods each week or fortnight, to a rest break in the course of a working day, and to a period of paid annual leave.

Regulations 18 to 27 provide for particular regulations not to apply, either in relation to workers engaged in certain kinds of work or where particular circumstances arise. There is also provision for groups of workers and their employers to agree to modify or exclude the application of particular regulations.

The remaining regulations make provision in relation to enforcement and remedies, and in respect of agency workers, Crown servants, the police, trainees and agricultural workers. The Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 is amended to include a right for workers not to be subjected to any detriment for refusing to comply with a requirement contrary to these Regulations or to forgo a right conferred by them, and to provide that the dismissal of an employee on account of any such refusal is unfair dismissal for the purposes of that Order.


Notes:

[21] 1996 c. 14back

[22] 1955 c. 18back

[23] 1955 c. 19back

[24] 1957 c. 53back

[25] Each of the sections referred to in paragraph (5) was substituted by section 20 of the Armed Forces Act 1996 (c. 46)back

[26] S.R. 1991 No. 168back

[27] 1997 c. 50back

[28] S.I. 1977/2151 (N.I. 22)back



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