The Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Consultation by Employers) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006

Protections from suffering other detriment in employment

7.—(1) An employee to whom sub-paragraph (2) or (4) applies has the right not to be subjected to any detriment by any act, or deliberate failure to act, by his employer done on a ground specified in, respectively, sub-paragraph (3) or (5).

(2) This sub-paragraph applies to an employee who is—

(a) a consulted representative, or

(b) a candidate in an election in which any person elected will, on being elected, be a representative of such description as is referred to in regulation 13(2).

(3) The grounds are that—

(a) the employee performed or proposed to perform any functions or activities under these Regulations in his capacity as such a representative or candidate;

(b) the employee exercised or proposed to exercise an entitlement conferred on the employee by paragraph 2 or 3, or

(c) the employee (or a person acting on his behalf) made or proposed to make a request to exercise such an entitlement.

(4) This sub-paragraph applies to any employee who is an active or prospective member of an occupational or personal pension scheme, whether or not he is an employee to whom sub-paragraph (2) applies.

(5) The grounds are that the employee—

(a) took, or proposed to take, any proceedings before an industrial tribunal to enforce a right or secure an entitlement conferred on him by this Schedule;

(b) complained or proposed to complain to the Regulator that any person falling within regulation 3(1)—

(i) has decided to make a listed change affecting an occupational or personal pension scheme in contravention of regulation 6(1), or

(ii) has failed to comply with the requirements of regulation 16(2) or (3);

(c) complained or proposed to complain to the Regulator that any consultation required by these Regulations was not carried out in accordance with the requirements of these Regulations;

(d) stood as a candidate in an election in which any person elected would, on being elected, be a representative of such description as is referred to in regulation 13(2);

(e) influenced or sought to influence by lawful means the way in which votes were to be cast by other employees in an election arranged under regulation 14;

(f) voted in such a election;

(g) expressed doubts, whether to an election supervisor or otherwise, as to whether such an election had been properly conducted, or

(h) proposed to do, failed to do, or proposed to decline to do any of the things mentioned in heads (d) to (g).

(6) It is immaterial for the purpose of sub-paragraph (5)(a)—

(a) whether or not the employee has the right or entitlement, or

(b) whether or not the right has been infringed,

but for that provision to apply, the claim to the right and, if applicable, the claim that it has been infringed must be made in good faith.

(7) This paragraph does not apply where the detriment in question amounts to dismissal.

8.—(1) An employee may present a complaint to an industrial tribunal that he has been subjected to a detriment in contravention of paragraph 7.

(2) The provisions of Articles 71(2) to (4) and 72 of the 1996 Order(1) (complaints to industrial tribunals and remedies) shall apply in relation to a complaint under this paragraph as they apply in relation to a complaint under Article 71 of that Order.

(1)

Articles 71(2) and 72 were amended respectively by Articles 6(3) and 7 of the Public Interest Disclosure (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 (S.I 1998/1763 (N.I. 17))