167Interpretation of Part XII, etc
(1)In this Part of this Act—
“confinement” means—
(a)labour resulting in the issue of a living child, or
(b)labour after 28 weeks of pregnancy resulting in the issue of a child whether alive or dead,
and “confined” shall be construed accordingly; and where a woman’s labour begun on one day results in the issue of a child on another day she shall be taken to be confined on the day of the issue of the child or, if labour results in the issue of twins or a greater number of children, she shall be taken to be confined on the day of the issue of the last of them;
“dismissed” is to be construed in accordance with Article 21(2) to (5) of the [S.I. 1976/1043 (N.I. 16).] Industrial Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1976;
“employee”means a woman who is—
(a)gainfully employed in Northern Ireland either under a contract of service or in an office (including elective office) with emoluments chargeable to income tax under Schedule E; and
(b)over the age of 16;
but subject to regulations which may provide for cases where any such woman is not to be treated as an employee for the purposes of this Part of this Act and for cases where a woman who would not otherwise be an employee for those purposes is to be treated as an employee for those purposes;
“employer”, in relation to a woman who is an employee, means a person who under section 6 above is, or but for subsection (1)(b) of that section would be, liable to pay secondary Class 1 contributions in relation to any of her earnings;
“maternity pay period” has the meaning assigned to it by section 161(1) above;
“modifications” includes additions, omissions and amendments, and related expressions shall be construed accordingly;
“prescribed” means specified in or determined in accordance with regulations;
“week” means a period of 7 days beginning with Sunday or such other period as may be prescribed in relation to any particular case or class of cases.
(2)Without prejudice to any other power to make regulations under this Part of this Act, regulations may specify cases in which, for the purposes of this Part of this Act or of such provisions of this Part of this Act as may be prescribed—
(a)two or more employers are to be treated as one;
(b)two or more contracts of service in respect of which the same woman is an employee are to be treated as one.
(3)Where, in consequence of the establishment of one or more Health and Social Services trusts under the [S.I. 1991/194 (N.I. 1).] Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1991, a woman’s contract of employment is treated by a scheme under that Order as divided so as to constitute two or more contracts, regulations may make provision enabling her to elect for all of those contracts to be treated as one contract for the purposes of this Part of this Act or of such provisions of this Part of this Act as may be prescribed; and any such regulations may prescribe—
(a)the conditions that must be satisfied if a woman is to be entitled to make such an election;
(b)the manner in which, and the time within which, such an election is to be made;
(c)the persons to whom, and the manner in which, notice of such an election is to be given;
(d)the information which a woman who makes such an election is to provide, and the persons to whom, and the time within which, she is to provide it;
(e)the time for which such an election is to have effect;
(f)which one of the woman’s employers under the two or more contracts is to be regarded for the purposes of statutory maternity pay as her employer under the one contract;
and the powers conferred by this subsection are without prejudice to any other power to make regulations under this Part of this Act.
(4)For the purposes of this Part of this Act a woman’s normal weekly earnings shall, subject to subsection (6) below, be taken to be the average weekly earnings which in the relevant period have been paid to her or paid for her benefit under the contract of service with the employer in question.
(5)For the purposes of subsection (4) above “earnings” and “relevant period” shall have the meanings given to them by regulations.
(6)In such cases as may be prescribed a woman’s normal weekly earnings shall be calculated in accordance with regulations.