HU MEMBERSHIP UPDATE GOOD JOBS BILL INTRODUCED

30 April 2025

Major Announcement on Employment Rights

On 28 April 2025, the Minister for the Economy, Dr Caoimhe Archibald MLA, announced the Department’s plan to introduce a new Good Jobs Employment Rights Bill — a major employment law reform initiative aimed at modernising the workplace and enhancing protections for both workers and employers.

The Bill if adopted, will strengthen employment rights across four key areas: Terms of Employment, Pay and Benefits, Voice and Representation, and Work-Life Balance.

Hospitality Ulster Response to the Good Jobs Employment Rights Bill Announcement

While we share the broad ambitions of creating Good Jobs and fair and balanced employment conditions, we have, however, expressed our concerns regarding the practical implications of the proposals for the hospitality industry, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses already facing extreme financial and operational pressures.

Key Points of Concern

1. Impact on Business Flexibility and Sustainability

• Zero and Low Hours Contracts: The hospitality sector requires staffing flexibility to respond to unpredictable trading patterns, seasonal demand, and last-minute event bookings. Restricting zero-hours contracts through “banded hours” rights and mandatory shift compensation risks removing essential flexibility and could lead to a reduction in opportunities for casual workers, students, and part-time staff.
• Flexible Working: While we support flexible working in principle, mandating day-one flexible working requests could significantly undermine rota management, particularly for small venues that operate with lean teams.

2. Increased Administrative and Financial Burden

• Holiday Pay Changes: Extending the holiday pay reference period to 52 weeks, while fairer in principle, will impose additional payroll complexity and additional costs on small businesses.
• Payslip and Employment Documentation: Enhanced requirements around payslips and written particulars, while positive for transparency, will increase compliance obligations at a time when many businesses are already stretched.

3. Collective Bargaining and Trade Union Access

• Reduced Recognition Thresholds: Lowering the employee threshold for mandatory union recognition from 21 to 10 employees will disproportionately affect small hospitality businesses and may result in increased operational uncertainty without necessarily improving employment relationships.
• The mechanism for industry wide collective bargaining does exist and therefore, if introduced it would require an additional mechanism and likely add additional costs to businesses.

4. Sector-Specific Realities

• The hospitality sector operates differently from standard office-based sectors. Evening and weekend work is fundamental, and short-notice staff adjustments are often unavoidable. Legislation must recognise and accommodate these operational differences to avoid unintended negative consequences for businesses and workers alike.

Our Position

Hospitality Ulster calls for:

• Genuine engagement with the sector during the Bill’s development, to ensure that new laws are practical, proportionate, and workable for hospitality businesses.
• Sector-specific guidance and flexibilities, recognising the realities of hospitality operations.
• Support and resourcing for small businesses, including administrative help and financial assistance for adapting to the new employment framework.
• A phased and pragmatic implementation timeline, to avoid destabilising the sector at a critical time of post-pandemic recovery and economic uncertainty.

Conclusion

We urge the Minister and the Department for the Economy to work closely with Hospitality Ulster and our members to ensure that the Good Jobs Employment Rights Bill strengthens worker protections without placing unmanageable burdens on the businesses that provide vital jobs, investment, and vibrancy in our towns and cities.

Together, we can achieve an employment framework that benefits workers, businesses, and the wider economy.

Summary of the Bills Proposals

1. Terms of Employment

• Zero Hours Contracts:
• Right to move to a banded hours contract after a qualifying period.
• Compensation for shifts cancelled at short notice.
• Ban on exclusivity clauses for low-paid workers.
• Employment Status:
• New guidance to address bogus self-employment.
• Fire and Rehire:
• Dismissals aimed at changing contracts will be deemed automatically unfair, unless in cases of proven financial difficulty.
• Redundancy Procedures:
• Personal liability for failure to notify collective redundancies.
• Written Terms:
• All employees and workers must receive core employment terms on or before the first day of employment.

2. Pay and Benefits

• Tips and Gratuities:
• Employers must fairly and transparently distribute tips.
• Payslips:
• Itemised payslips required for all workers, including hours worked.
• Holiday Pay Calculations:
• Holiday pay reference period extended from 12 to 52 weeks.
• Right to Disconnect:
• A statutory Code of Practice will be introduced to support work-life balance.

3. Voice and Representation

• Trade Union Access:
• Legal right for unions to access workplaces (including digitally).
• Union Recognition Threshold
• Lowered from 21 to 10 employees.
• Collective Bargaining:
• Development of a sectoral framework to increase bargaining coverage.
• Industrial Action:
• Balloting procedures modernised, including the introduction of e-balloting.

4. Work-Life Balance

• Flexible Working:
• Right to request flexible working from day one of employment.
• Carer’s Leave:
• One week of unpaid leave annually for carers; future review of paid leave.
• Neonatal Care Leave and Pay:
• Leave rights for parents of babies requiring neonatal care.
• Redundancy Protections:
• Strengthened protections for pregnant employees and parents returning from family leave.
• Paternity Leave:
• More flexible and extended arrangements.

 Next Steps

The Department plans to introduce the Bill to the Assembly in early 2026, aiming for it to become law before the current Assembly mandate ends in early 2027. Implementation will be phased, allowing employers time to prepare. Further guidance and support will be available through the Labour Relations Agency.