No. 441 The Labour Relations Agency (Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures) (Jurisdictions) Order (Northern Ireland) 2011
This Order comes into operation on 1/1/12 and essentially provides for complaints under Regulation 51 of the Companies (Cross-Border Mergers) Regulations 2007 to be covered as a jurisdiction to which the new Labour Relations Agency Code of Practice on Discipline and Grievance will apply.
This amendment will enable an industrial tribunal to vary an award where there has been an unreasonable failure to comply with the Labour Relations Agency Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures in respect of complaints brought under regulation 51 of the Companies (Cross-Border Mergers) Regulations 2007. Regulation 51 of the 2007 Regulations enables certain employees and their representatives to make a complaint to an industrial tribunal where they have been subject to detriment for exercising rights and entitlements in the context of a cross-border merger.
The Employment Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 Act inserted a provision into the Industrial relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1992 that permits a tribunal to vary an award by up to 50% where there has been an unreasonable failure to comply with good practices set out in the LRA Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures. This was qualified by the insertion of a Schedule listing the tribunal jurisdictions to which the provision would apply. It is this Schedule - Schedule 4A of the 1992 Order - in which the omitted provision ought to have been included.