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About Employment Law

We know that employment law is a fast-paced world and that staying on top of all the latest legal developments is a time-consuming job – add this to the time you spend carrying out research and tracking down the right precedents and you have really eaten into the precious hours in your working day.

Starting employment

We cover recruitment, employment contracts, policies, handbooks and more. It’s not just contracts though. Other documents may regulate the employment relationship, such as policies, procedures and collective agreements.

Managing the employment relationship

Sickness and absence is a common occurrence in an employment relationship that brings up multiple legal issues. We offer a range of resources with practical guidance and legal considerations.

TUPE, outsourcing, share. and asset purchases

TUPE 2006 will likely apply when acquiring businesses through an asset purchase. You’ll need to consider due diligence, consultation obligations, employees and liabilities transferred to the buyer.

Stay on top of changes

We know that employment law is a fast-paced world and that staying on top of all the latest legal developments is a time-consuming job – add this to the time you spend carrying out research and tracking down the right precedents and you have really eaten

Our Top Sources

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Latest Employment Q&As

Q&As
Under section 181 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, is an employer under an obligation to disclose contact email addresses for both members and non-members to a recognised trade union, so that the trade union representatives can contact all employees for collective bargaining purposes?
Q&As
Does the definition of trade dispute in TULR(C)A 1992, s 244 extend to cover the refusal by an employer to voluntarily recognise a Union for collective bargaining? Does a trade union need to be recognised by a particular employer in order for the trade union to call its members who work for that employer to take industrial action?
Q&As
On a relevant transfer under TUPE 2006, what are a transferee’s options if it has a company policy of not recognising trade unions, but transferring employees have union recognition?
Q&As
If collective bargaining is already underway with employee representatives over changing terms and conditions but is not yet complete, what happens if a trade union is given statutory recognition during the process? Does a new process start or is the employer allowed to continue with the pre-existing collective bargaining?
Q&As
An employer wishes to recognise one or more unions to cover all staff in bargaining units, but in order to have better representation of its non-unionised employees it would also like workforce representatives to participate in a joint consultative committee with union representatives. Are there any issues with this? Can union members be excluded from elections to become workforce representatives?
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Associated legal terms

Ballot procedure

The procedure whereby employees are entitled to vote (normally secretly) on a particular work matter, for example in relation to a Trade Union proposal to strike or for the election of employee representatives to act on their behalf in a redundancy process.

Payroll

Payroll refers to the processes, records and calculations by which an employer determines, withholds, reports and pays employees’ wages, salaries and associated statutory deductions. In legal practice, it commonly arises in employment law, tax, social security and corporate transactions (for example, in due diligence and TUPE/transfer of undertakings exercises).

The term “payroll” itself is descriptive rather than a defined statutory concept in the UK or Ireland, but its components are governed by detailed legislation, including income tax, Pay As You Earn (PAYE), National Insurance contributions (UK), Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) (Ireland), statutory sick pay, statutory maternity and other family leave payments, national minimum wage/living wage compliance, auto‑enrolment pensions and real time information (RTI) reporting.

Payroll records are legally significant for demonstrating compliance with employment contracts, working time rules, holiday pay, equal pay and discrimination laws, and for evidencing liabilities on corporate acquisitions.

Usage and core legal obligations are broadly consistent across England & Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland, subject to differing tax and social security regimes, minimum wage rates, enforcement bodies and statutory payment schemes in each jurisdiction.

Whistleblower act

Whistleblower act is a descriptive term used in UK and Irish legal practice to refer to legislation protecting workers who disclose wrongdoing in the workplace. In England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland this protection is primarily contained in the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA), which amended the Employment Rights Act 1996 and related legislation. In Ireland, equivalent protection is provided under the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 (as amended).

These regimes protect “protected disclosures” about matters such as criminal offences, health and safety risks, environmental damage, financial misconduct, or breaches of legal obligations. They prohibit subjecting whistleblowers to detriment or dismissal for making such disclosures, and provide remedies in employment tribunals or the Workplace Relations Commission and Labour Court.

The term “whistleblower act” is not itself a defined statutory expression, but is commonly used by practitioners, HR professionals and regulators to describe these frameworks. Across the UK and Ireland, the core concepts are broadly aligned: protection for qualifying disclosures, specified channels for disclosure (e.g. employer, prescribed regulators) and strong remedies for retaliation, though the detailed tests, procedures and time limits differ by jurisdiction.
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