F1Arts. 85ZJ-85ZS and cross-headings inserted (5.4.2015) by Work and Families Act (Northern Ireland) 2015 (c. 1), ss. 17(2), 23(1); S.R. 2015/86, art. 4(1)(e)
85ZL—(1) An employee who—
(a)has been notified by an adoption agency that a child is to be, or is expected to be, placed for adoption with the employee and another person jointly, and
(b)has elected to exercise the right to take time off under this Article in connection with the adoption,
is entitled to be permitted by his or her employer to take time off during the employee's working hours in order that he or she may attend by appointment at any place for the purpose of having contact with the child or for any other purpose connected with the adoption.
(2) An employee may not make an election for the purposes of paragraph (1)(b) if—
(a)the employee has made an election for the purposes of Article 85ZJ(2)(b) in connection with the adoption, or
(b)the other person with whom the child is to be, or is expected to be, placed for adoption has made an election for the purposes of paragraph (1)(b) or Article 85ZP(1)(b) in connection with the adoption.
(3) An employee is not entitled to take time off under this Article on or after the date of the child's placement for adoption with the employee.
(4) In relation to any particular adoption, an employee is not entitled to take time off under this Article on more than two occasions.
(5) On each of those occasions, the maximum time off during working hours to which the employee is entitled is six and a half hours.
(6) An employee is not entitled to take time off under this Article unless the appointment has been arranged by or at the request of the adoption agency which made the notification described in paragraph (1)(a).
(7) An employee is not entitled to take time off under this Article unless, if the employer requests it, the employee gives the employer—
(a)a declaration signed by the employee stating that the employee has made an election for the purposes of paragraph (1)(b) in connection with the adoption, and
(b)a document showing the date and time of the appointment in question and that it has been arranged as described in paragraph (6).
(8) A declaration or document requested under paragraph (7) may be given in electronic form.
(9) In cases where more than one child is to be, or is expected to be, placed for adoption with an employee and another person jointly as part of the same arrangement, this Article has effect as if—
(a)the purposes specified in paragraph (1) were the purpose of having contact with any one or more of the children and any other purpose connected with any of the adoptions that are part of the arrangement,
(b)the references in paragraphs (1)(b) and (7)(a) to the adoption were references to all of the adoptions that are part of the arrangement,
(c)the references in paragraph (2) to the adoption were references to any of the adoptions that are part of the arrangement,
(d)the reference in paragraph (3) to the date of the child's placement for adoption were a reference to the date of placement of the first child to be placed as part of the arrangement,
(e)the reference in paragraph (4) to a particular adoption were a reference to the adoptions that are part of a particular arrangement.
(10) For the purposes of this Article, the working hours of an employee are to be taken to be any time when, in accordance with the employee's contract of employment, the employee is required to be at work.
(11) In this Article, “adoption agency” has the same meaning as in Article 85ZJ.]