- Latest available (Revised)
- Original (As made)
The Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996
You are here:
What Version
Advanced Features
- Show Geographical Extent(e.g. England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland)
- Show Timeline of Changes
More Resources
Changes to legislation:
There are outstanding changes not yet made by the legislation.gov.uk editorial team to The Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996. Any changes that have already been made by the team appear in the content and are referenced with annotations.
Changes to Legislation
Revised legislation carried on this site may not be fully up to date. Changes and effects are recorded by our editorial team in lists which can be found in the ‘Changes to Legislation’ area. Where those effects have yet to be applied to the text of the legislation by the editorial team they are also listed alongside the legislation in the affected provisions. Use the ‘more’ link to open the changes and effects relevant to the provision you are viewing.
Changes and effects yet to be applied to the whole Order associated Parts and Chapters:
- Act applied with modifications by S.R. 2023/156 reg. 15
Whole provisions yet to be inserted into this Order (including any effects on those provisions):
- Pt. 7A inserted by 2011 c. 13 (N.I.) Sch. 3 Pt. 1
- Ch. 5 inserted by 2022 c. 27 (N.I.) s. 1(1)
- art. 21(4B) inserted by 2011 c. 13 (N.I.) Sch. 3 Pt. 2 para. 2
- art. 23(1)(zza) inserted by 2011 c. 13 (N.I.) Sch. 3 Pt. 2 para. 3
- art. 70F inserted by 2011 c. 13 (N.I.) Sch. 3 Pt. 2 para. 4
- art. 70G inserted by 2020 c. 7 Sch. 7 para. 20
- art. 71(1C) inserted by 2020 c. 7 Sch. 7 para. 21(a)
- art. 72(8) inserted by 2020 c. 7 Sch. 7 para. 22(b)
- art. 85ZS(3)(a)-(c) substituted for words by 2022 c. 18 (N.I.) Sch. 3 para. 47(4)
- art. 95F(5A) inserted by 2016 c. 15 (N.I.) Sch. 2 para. 32
- art. 135E inserted by 2011 c. 13 (N.I.) Sch. 3 Pt. 2 para. 6
- art. 135G inserted by 2020 c. 7 Sch. 7 para. 25
- art. 137(6D) inserted by 2011 c. 13 (N.I.) Sch. 3 Pt. 2 para. 7
- art. 137(7N) inserted by 2020 c. 7 Sch. 7 para. 26(b)
- art. 140(3)(fj) inserted by 2011 c. 13 (N.I.) Sch. 3 Pt. 2 para. 8
- art. 140(3)(fl) inserted by 2020 c. 7 Sch. 7 para. 27
- art. 143(2)(ddd) inserted by 2011 c. 13 (N.I.) Sch. 3 Pt. 2 para. 9
- art. 144(2)(ddd) inserted by 2011 c. 13 (N.I.) Sch. 3 Pt. 2 para. 10
Rights of employer and employee to minimum noticeN.I.
118.—(1) The notice required to be given by an employer to terminate the contract of employment of a person who has been continuously employed for one month or more—
(a)is not less than one week's notice if his period of continuous employment is less than two years,
(b)is not less than one week's notice for each year of continuous employment if his period of continuous employment is two years or more but less than twelve years, and
(c)is not less than twelve weeks' notice if his period of continuous employment is twelve years or more.
(2) The notice required to be given by an employee who has been continuously employed for one month or more to terminate his contract of employment is not less than one week.
(3) Any provision for shorter notice in any contract of employment with a person who has been continuously employed for one month or more has effect subject to paragraphs (1) and (2); but this Article does not prevent either party from waiving his right to notice on any occasion or from accepting a payment in lieu of notice.
(4) Any contract of employment of a person who has been continuously employed for three months or more which is a contract for a term certain of one month or less shall have effect as if it were for an indefinite period; and, accordingly, paragraphs (1) and (2) apply to the contract.
Para. (5) rep. by SR 2002/298
(6) This Article does not affect any right of either party to a contract of employment to treat the contract as terminable without notice by reason of the conduct of the other party.
Options/Help
Print Options
PrintThe Whole Order
PrintThe Whole Part
PrintThe Whole Cross Heading
PrintThis Section only
You have chosen to open The Whole Order
The Whole Order you have selected contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download. You may also experience some issues with your browser, such as an alert box that a script is taking a long time to run.
Would you like to continue?
You have chosen to open The Whole Order as a PDF
The Whole Order you have selected contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download.
Would you like to continue?
You have chosen to open The Whole Order without Schedules
The Whole Order without Schedules you have selected contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download. You may also experience some issues with your browser, such as an alert box that a script is taking a long time to run.
Would you like to continue?
You have chosen to open The Whole Order without Schedules as a PDF
The Whole Order without Schedules you have selected contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download.
Would you like to continue?
You have chosen to open the Whole Order
The Whole Order you have selected contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download. You may also experience some issues with your browser, such as an alert box that a script is taking a long time to run.
Would you like to continue?
You have chosen to open the Whole Order without Schedules
The Whole Order without Schedules you have selected contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download. You may also experience some issues with your browser, such as an alert box that a script is taking a long time to run.
Would you like to continue?
Legislation is available in different versions:
Latest Available (revised):The latest available updated version of the legislation incorporating changes made by subsequent legislation and applied by our editorial team. Changes we have not yet applied to the text, can be found in the ‘Changes to Legislation’ area.
Original (As Enacted or Made): The original version of the legislation as it stood when it was enacted or made. No changes have been applied to the text.
See additional information alongside the content
Geographical Extent: Indicates the geographical area that this provision applies to. For further information see ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.
Show Timeline of Changes: See how this legislation has or could change over time. Turning this feature on will show extra navigation options to go to these specific points in time. Return to the latest available version by using the controls above in the What Version box.
Opening Options
Different options to open legislation in order to view more content on screen at once
More Resources
Access essential accompanying documents and information for this legislation item from this tab. Dependent on the legislation item being viewed this may include:
- the original print PDF of the as enacted version that was used for the print copy
- lists of changes made by and/or affecting this legislation item
- confers power and blanket amendment details
- all formats of all associated documents
- correction slips
- links to related legislation and further information resources
Timeline of Changes
This timeline shows the different points in time where a change occurred. The dates will coincide with the earliest date on which the change (e.g an insertion, a repeal or a substitution) that was applied came into force. The first date in the timeline will usually be the earliest date when the provision came into force. In some cases the first date is 01/02/1991 (or for Northern Ireland legislation 01/01/2006). This date is our basedate. No versions before this date are available. For further information see the Editorial Practice Guide and Glossary under Help.
All content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. This site additionally contains content derived from EUR-Lex, reused under the terms of the Commission Decision 2011/833/EU on the reuse of documents from the EU institutions. For more information see the EUR-Lex public statement on re-use.