Fair Employment (Northern Ireland) Act 1989

23 Employers to apply for registration

(1) Where, on or after the commencement of this section, a concern, other than a registered concern, satisfies the condition for registration at the end of any week, the employer shall apply under this section for the concern to be registered.

(2) For the purposes of this Act a concern satisfies the condition for registration at the end of any week if in that week more than ten employees have been employed in Northern Ireland.

(3) In relation to any employment in the period of two years beginning with the commencement of this section, subsection (2) above shall have effect for those purposes (except section 24(9) of this Act) as if for “ten” there were substituted “twenty-five”.

(4) An application under this section shall—

(a) describe the concern in general terms,

(b) give the name and address of the employer, and

(c) give the number of employees employed in Northern Ireland.

(5) If an employer fails to make an application under this section within the period of one month after the time, on or after the commencement of this section, when the concern first satisfies the condition for registration (in the case of a concern the entry for which has been removed from the register, first satisfies that condition since the removal), he is guilty of an offence.

(6) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (5) above—

(a) is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, and

(b) if the failure continues after conviction, is liable on a second or subsequent summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one-tenth of level 5 on the standard scale for each day on which the failure continues.

(7) It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under subsection (5) above to show that he had a reasonable excuse for failing to make an application under this section within that period and that he made such an application as soon as it was reasonably practicable for him to do so.

(8) In determining for any of the purposes of this Act whether a concern satisfies the condition for registration, references to the employees of any person (referred to in this subsection as “the employer”) shall, if regulations made by the Department under this section so provide or in such circumstances as may be specified in the regulations, include a reference to the employees of—

(a) any body corporate controlled by the employer and, if the employer is a body corporate, any associated body corporate, and

(b) any person connected with the employer,

and references to the employer’s concern shall be interpreted accordingly.

(9) This section does not apply to any person who is a public authority for the purposes of sections 27 to 37 of this Act or to any person falling within section 25(3)(a) or (b) of this Act.