Latest / Employment Matters / 709: 2026 Employment Law Year in Review: Northern Ireland

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709: 2026 Employment Law Year in Review: Northern Ireland · Employment Matters

• 0:01
  Philippe Durand (France): Hello everyone and welcome to our Employment Law Year in Review Regional Roundtable Series, brought to you by the Employment Law Alliance, the largest network of labor and employment lawyers from the best law firms around the globe.
• 0:16
  Philippe Durand (France): I'm your host, Philippe Durand, Partner with August Debouzy in France.
• 0:21
  Philippe Durand (France): Each year, we kick off our program with a special series of Year in Review programs broken down by region and focusing on the most impactful regulations of the past year, as well as forecasting on important topics that will impact employers in the coming year.
• 0:39
  Philippe Durand (France): Today, joining us on the program, we have an ELA member representing Northern Ireland.
• 0:46
  Philippe Durand (France): Joining us on the program is Gareth Walls.
• 0:50
  Philippe Durand (France): Gareth works with our member firm in Northern Ireland, A&L Goodbody.
• 0:55
  Philippe Durand (France): How are you doing today?
• 0:56
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): Very well, Philippe.
• 0:57
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): Lovely to see you again.
• 0:59
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): Thank you.
• 1:00
  Philippe Durand (France): Gareth, are you calling from Belfast, I guess?
• 1:03
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): Yes, I'm working in office in Belfast.
• 1:08
  Philippe Durand (France): So, in fact, for our listeners, and I'm sure Gareth will be talking a bit about that, but Northern Ireland is part of the UK, but with a few legal subtleties you will surely talk about in a few seconds.
• 1:19
  Philippe Durand (France): Gareth, as you know, in this program, this year-in-review program, what we like to talk about is major changes you would have witnessed in your jurisdiction in Northern Ireland.
• 1:31
  Philippe Durand (France): So I guess that one topic you wanted to tell us about today is some legislation and some kind of interesting articulation precisely between UK law and EU law.
• 1:42
  Philippe Durand (France): So what would you like to tell us about on that topic?
• 1:45
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): Okay, so thank you, Philippe.
• 1:46
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): And your introduction is exactly on point.
• 1:49
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): Northern Ireland is a very unusual jurisdiction in that we are part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but also are the only part of the United Kingdom which shares a land border with the EU.
• 2:03
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): So in 2025, we are still a jurisdiction which is navigating the post-Brexit landscape, particularly in the legal landscape, because we have specific legislation called the Windsor Framework, which helps to bring a progression in Northern Ireland, but it focuses on adoption both of UK legislation as well as EU legislation.
• 2:29
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): And consequently, that makes for a very difficult business climate in relation to navigating employment law, both with EU jurisdiction, case law having application, and some UK statute having application.
• 2:45
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): So it's complex, Philippe, and we we are still as a jurisdiction navigating that.
• 2:50
  Philippe Durand (France): And that's the way you would advise employers on a day-to-day basis, of course, navigating between these two areas of law.
• 2:56
  Philippe Durand (France): I think there was another topic, Gareth, you wanted to talk about, and that's trade unions, is that correct?
• 3:02
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 3:03
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): And you're right, Philippe.
• 3:05
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): You know, my firm is largely a corporate firm advising businesses in relation to legislation, et cetera.
• 3:11
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): But one of the things we have seen in 2025 is what we would term the resurgence of the trade union movement.
• 3:19
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): And the trade unions have been very aggressive in terms of seeking new members within organizations where they're already recognized.
• 3:29
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): And they are also pushing for new recognition in organizations where they have never previously been recognized.
• 3:36
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): And that is a trend for employers, which a lot of employers are not particularly comfortable with.
• 3:42
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): And then the third element of trade union progression is that they are seeking to expand the terms of their collective agreements and their collective bargaining units.
• 3:51
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): In other words, they are seeking to have a greater say within the workplace.
• 3:56
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): And this is speaking to management-level employees who have not previously worked with trade unions and, as I say, are nervous about dealing with them in the corporate structures.
• 4:07
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): So it's it's been an interesting year for sure.
• 4:10
  Philippe Durand (France): Basically, what you're saying, Gareth, is that this reinforcement of unions in Northern Ireland is making your clients' life more difficult on a day-to-day basis.
• 4:20
  Philippe Durand (France): This is what you are witnessing.
• 4:22
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): Yes, absolutely.
• 4:23
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): We are seeing a lot of employers who have no previous experience of working with unions or navigating a good union relationship, being forced to consider that for the first time.
• 4:34
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): And our job frequently is getting alongside the employer, reassuring them that the union is not the enemy.
• 4:42
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): And in fact, the way to good union relations is by seeking to find common goals and working together for the greater good of the workforce.
• 4:52
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): But to be fair, that is a hard journey for some employers to go along because they just feel that some of the unions are too aggressive and are not actually commercially minded enough.
• 5:04
  Philippe Durand (France): And that's I think the exactly the role of a proper lawyer, that the one you are, Gareth, to assist and make your clients more comfortable in this kind of new relationship for some of them.
• 5:14
  Philippe Durand (France): If I may come back, Gareth, to your previous comment about EU law and UK law, could you please maybe explain are there any specific local powers in terms of legislation in Northern Ireland?
• 5:26
  Philippe Durand (France): I guess you have a local parliament.
• 5:27
  Philippe Durand (France): Can that parliament pass certain specific laws that would be specific to Northern Ireland?
• 5:33
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): Yes, actually.
• 5:34
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): So Northern Ireland is an unusual construct because we have legislation with direct effect coming from three sources.
• 5:42
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): One, through the EU as a consequence of the post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland, and that's specific to Northern Ireland.
• 5:50
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): Two, uh UK direct effect, so any Westminster-led legislation from Great Britain can also have direct effect in Northern Ireland.
• 6:00
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): And then thirdly, employment law is devolved from the UK to the Northern Irish legislature.
• 6:07
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): The Northern Irish legislature is called Stormont.
• 6:11
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): We have local politicians given ministerial office, and they are obliged to create Northern Irish employment law as well.
• 6:22
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): So we have three different sources, which again makes our job more interesting than perhaps it needs to be.
• 6:29
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): But navigating that for business clients is our role.
• 6:35
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): And we see a lot of US investment into Northern Ireland.
• 6:38
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): The US traditionally loves Ireland, North and South.
• 6:42
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): They don't really worry so much about the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
• 6:48
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): So our job is helping navigate that inward flow of investment and particularly labour and employment laws.
• 6:56
  Philippe Durand (France): I think the specificities, Gareth, are very interesting.
• 6:59
  Philippe Durand (France): Now, moving on to 2026, you know that what we like to address in this interview is what you think about 2026, what are the topics you would see as hot topics for employment law and particularly for businesses in Northern Ireland.
• 7:15
  Philippe Durand (France): I think you had one topic on the top of your head, which is two different pieces of legislation.
• 7:20
  Philippe Durand (France): Could you explain a little bit what we're talking about and how this would impact 2026?
• 7:26
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): Absolutely.
• 7:27
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): So one major piece to talk about from Northern Ireland is the new legislation which is coming in in 2026.
• 7:36
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): It's going to be the single biggest change to employment law and how we contract and work with employees since the Employment Rights Order of 1996.
• 7:46
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): Furthermore, given what we've just said about how legislation applies in Northern Ireland, we will be looking across to London, to Westminster, which is also introducing a new seismic piece of legislation called the Employment Rights Bill currently.
• 8:04
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): 2026, we anticipate that it will become an act and elements of that will have direct effect in Northern Ireland.
• 8:12
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): Okay.
• 8:12
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): Secondly, we again will have the Northern Irish legislature is tasked with introducing its own equivalent legislation, and that is known as the Employment Rights or Good Jobs Bill for 2026.
• 8:28
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): Both pieces of legislation are currently being debated.
• 8:32
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): We do expect to see some uh changes and modifications as one would expect.
• 8:38
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): But for example, one of the hot topics coming through in that is day one rights for employees and new starters in relation to access of benefits and also the freedom to or the avoidance of being unfairly dismissed, or currently unfair dismissal rights attach after twelve months or twenty-four months in either jurisdiction.
• 9:01
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): So the discussion is just one of the elements of these new pieces of legislation will be day one rights, which will be a big step to governments to introduce and a hard task for employers to navigate.
• 9:14
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): But that's what we're looking into, Philippe.
• 9:16
  Gareth Walls (Northern Ireland): We do expect changes in relation to both pieces of legislation, but that will be the sounding board for 2026, no doubt about it.
• 9:26
  Philippe Durand (France): They are very interesting.
• 9:28
  Philippe Durand (France): So we we do understand Northern Ireland is certainly part of the United Kingdom.
• 9:33
  Philippe Durand (France): But having said that, as you explained, Gareth, with some specificities, and thank you for the tips you just provided us for 2026, which I think are very helpful.
• 9:43
  Philippe Durand (France): So thank you, Gareth, for sharing your thoughts today on Northern Ireland and what is coming up within the next few months.
• 9:50
  Philippe Durand (France): And I hope we will hear you again on this program soon.
• 9:54
  Philippe Durand (France): Thank you so much, and so lovely to be part of it and to be part of ELA.
• 9:58
  Philippe Durand (France): Thank you.
• 9:59
  Philippe Durand (France): You're quite welcome.
• 10:00
  Philippe Durand (France): If you would like to connect with Gareth, please click on his bio in the description of his podcast.
• 10:06
  Philippe Durand (France): And I may add that Gareth is a partner with NL Goodbody, which I forgot to mention.
• 10:11
  Philippe Durand (France): We also encourage you to reach out to any of our lawyers around the world by selecting Find a Lawyer on the ELA website at ella.law.
• 10:21
  Philippe Durand (France): Information about all the programs available in the Urine Review series and other resources are available on the event landing page at ELA.
• 10:31
  Philippe Durand (France): You've been listening to the Employment Law Year in Review Regional Roundtable, a series brought to you by the Employment Law Alliance, the world's largest network of labor and employment lawyers from the best law firms around the globe.
• 10:48
  Philippe Durand (France): I am Philippe Durand.
• 10:50
  Philippe Durand (France): Thanks for listening.