The Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996

[F1 Complaint to industrial tribunal: agency workers N.I.

85ZQ— (1) An agency worker may present a complaint to an industrial tribunal that the temporary work agency—

(a) has unreasonably refused to let him or her take time off as required by Article 85ZN or 85ZP, or

(b) has failed to pay the whole or any part of any amount to which the agency worker is entitled under Article 85ZO.

(2) An agency worker may present a complaint to an industrial tribunal that the hirer has unreasonably refused to let him or her take time off as required by Article 85ZN or 85ZP.

(3) An industrial tribunal may not consider a complaint under sub-paragraph (1) or (2) unless it is presented—

(a) before the end of the period of three months beginning with the day of the appointment in question, or

(b) within such further period as the tribunal considers reasonable in a case where it is satisfied that it was not reasonably practicable for the complaint to be presented before the end of that period of three months.

[F2 (3A) Article 249B (extension of time limits to facilitate conciliation before institution of proceedings) applies for the purposes of paragraph (3)(a).]

(4) Where an industrial tribunal finds a complaint under paragraph (1) or (2) well-founded, it must make a declaration to that effect.

(5) If the complaint is that the temporary work agency or hirer has unreasonably refused to let the agency worker take time off as required by Article 85ZN, the tribunal must also order payment to the agency worker of an amount that is twice the amount of the remuneration to which the agency worker would have been entitled under Article 85ZO if the agency worker had not been refused the time off.

(6) If the complaint is that the temporary work agency has failed to pay the agency worker the whole or part of any amount to which the agency worker is entitled under Article 85ZO, the tribunal must also order the temporary work agency to pay to the agency worker the amount which it finds due to the agency worker.

(7) If the complaint is that the temporary work agency or hirer has unreasonably refused to let the agency worker take time off as required byArticle 85ZP, the tribunal must also order payment to the agency worker of an amount determined in accordance with sub-paragraph (8).

(8) The amount payable to the agency worker under paragraph (7) is—

where—

a

A is the appropriate hourly rate for the agency worker determined in accordance with Article 85ZO(2) and (3), and

b

B is the number of working hours for which the agency worker would have been entitled under Article 85ZP to be absent if the time off had not been refused.

(9) Where the tribunal orders that payment under paragraph (5) or (7) be made by the temporary work agency and the hirer, the proportion of that amount payable by each respondent is to be such as may be found by the tribunal to be just and equitable having regard to the extent of each respondent's responsibility for the infringement to which the complaint relates.]

F1 Arts. 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)

F2 Art. 85ZQ(3A) inserted (27.1.2020) by Employment Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 (c. 15), s. 29(2), Sch. 2 para. 26; S.R. 2020/1, art. 2(n)