Your Rights as an Employee in Northern Ireland

Who this guide is for

Employees and workers in Northern Ireland who want to know their basic rights at work. It covers:

• Your written statement, payslips, the minimum wage, paid holiday and sick pay.
• Being dismissed: who can claim unfair dismissal, and the notice you must get or give.
• Redundancy pay.
• Asking to work flexibly.
• Money taken out of your pay.
• Whether you are an employee, a worker or self-employed.
• Paternity leave, parental leave and time off for dependants.
• Discrimination, and disciplinary and grievance meetings.
• What to do if your employer does not give you your rights.

What this guide does not cover

• Work in England, Wales or Scotland. The rules there are different: see the Great Britain guide.
• Tribunal time limits in detail and how to make a claim: see our tribunal deadline guide.
• Maternity leave and pay: see our maternity pay guide. Bereavement leave: see our bereavement leave guide.
• Gig and platform work: see our worker or self-employed guide.
• Being paid below the minimum wage, and reporting it: see our minimum wage guide.
• Zero hours contracts: see our zero hours guide. Agency workers: see our agency worker guide.
• Reasonable adjustments for a disability: see our reasonable adjustments guide.
• Whistleblowing: see our whistleblowing guide.
• Settlement agreements: see our settlement agreement guide. Redundancy pay when your employer is insolvent: see our employer insolvency guide.
• Refusing unsafe work: see our health and safety guide. An employer's own duties: see our employer obligations guide.
• Consultation when 20 or more redundancies are proposed. This guide does not cover this: ask the LRA.

What the rules depend on

1. Are you an employee, a worker or self-employed? Most rights in this guide are for employees. Paid holiday and the minimum wage also cover workers. If you are self-employed, you have no statutory right to paid holiday.
2. How long have you worked for this employer without a break? 1 month or more: statutory minimum notice applies. 26 weeks or more: you can make a statutory flexible working request. 1 year or more: you can claim ordinary unfair dismissal. 2 years or more: statutory redundancy pay. No minimum service is needed for a dismissal for an automatically unfair reason.
3. What happened, and on what date? Most time limits run from the date of the act you are complaining about. Statutory sick pay changed on 6 April 2026.
4. Where did you work? This guide is for Northern Ireland. Most of the Great Britain changes under the Employment Rights Act 2025 do not apply here.

"What should I get when I start a job?"

If you are an employee who has been employed for longer than one month, you should receive a written statement of employment particulars. Your employer must give it to you within two months of you starting work.

It must include your pay rate and when you will be paid, your hours, your holiday entitlement, where you will work, sick pay arrangements, notice periods, and information about disciplinary and grievance procedures.

As an employee you have the right to an itemised pay statement (a payslip) at or before the time each payment of wages is made.

"How much is the minimum wage?"

The minimum wage is the same across the UK. From 1 April 2026 the hourly rates are:

• Aged 21 and over (the National Living Wage): £12.71.
• Aged 18 to 20: £10.85.
• Under 18: £8.00.
• Apprentices: £8.00, if you are under 19, or 19 or over and in the first year of your apprenticeship. An apprentice aged 19 or over who has finished the first year gets the rate for their age.

The rates change on 1 April every year. If you think you are paid less, see our minimum wage guide.

"How much holiday do I get?"

You are entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks' paid annual leave. If you work 5 days a week, that is 28 days.

The statutory entitlement is capped at 28 days. If you work 6 days a week you are still entitled to 28 days.

If you work part-time, you get 5.6 times the number of days in your normal working week. For example, 2 days a week gives 11.2 days.

You start building up holiday as soon as you start work. You are paid your normal pay for your holiday. When you finish a job, you are paid for any holiday you have not taken.

Your holiday is counted by holiday year (also called the leave year), not the calendar year. Check your contract or written statement for when yours starts, for example 1 January or 1 April. If no date is set, it starts on the day you started the job and on that date each year after.

This matters when you work out how much you have taken and how much you are owed. If you started part way through the holiday year, you get a share of the year's holiday for the part that was left. You usually have to take your holiday within the holiday year. In some cases you can carry it into the next one, for example if you could not take it because you were off sick or on maternity, paternity or adoption leave, or your employer did not give you a fair chance to take it. Limits apply.

If you work casual or irregular hours, you are entitled to paid time off for every hour you work.

You do not have a statutory right to paid leave on bank and public holidays. If your employer gives paid leave on a bank or public holiday, it can count towards your minimum entitlement. Northern Ireland has 10 bank and public holidays.

You need to be classed as a worker to have the right to paid holiday. If you are self-employed, you have no statutory right to paid annual leave.

"I'm off sick. Do I get paid?"

From 6 April 2026, statutory sick pay (SSP) is paid from the first full day of sickness absence. There are no unpaid waiting days and no minimum earnings. This change applies in Northern Ireland as well as in Great Britain.

SSP is £123.25 a week, or 80% of your normal weekly earnings if that is lower.

"I've been dismissed. Was it unfair?"

In Northern Ireland you need at least 1 year of continuous employment to claim ordinary unfair dismissal, so anyone with 1 year or more qualifies. The Great Britain change to 6 months from January 2027 does not apply in Northern Ireland.

It is for your employer to show the reason for dismissing you and that it was a fair kind of reason. The tribunal then decides, looking at all the facts, whether dismissing you for that reason was reasonable, including how your employer went about it. Neither of you has to prove that part.

No minimum length of service is needed if you were dismissed for an automatically unfair reason, such as whistleblowing, pregnancy, or raising a health and safety concern.

If you are dismissed while pregnant, or during maternity leave or adoption leave, your employer must give you the reasons in writing, even if you do not ask and however long you have worked.

Otherwise, if you have at least 1 year of continuous employment when your employment ends, you can ask your employer for the reasons for your dismissal in writing. Once you ask, they must give them within 14 days. That 14-day deadline is your employer's, not yours.

If your employer dismisses you for using or trying to use one of your legal employment rights, the dismissal is automatically unfair. These include your right to a written statement, a payslip, minimum notice, time off for dependants, a flexible working request, and protection against unlawful deductions from wages.

Being unfairly selected for redundancy is also unfair dismissal.

If you were dismissed because of disability, race, sex, age, religion or another protected reason, that is a discrimination claim under Northern Ireland's own equality laws. The discrimination claim needs no minimum length of service. The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland may be able to help with a discrimination claim.

"How much notice should I get, or give?"

Whatever your contract says, your employer must give you at least the statutory minimum notice:

• 1 week if you have been continuously employed for between 1 month and 2 years.
• 1 week for each complete year, up to a maximum of 12 weeks, if you have been continuously employed for 2 years or more.

If you have worked for your employer for 1 month or more, the legal minimum notice you must give is 1 week. If your contract sets a longer notice period, you should give that.

A fixed-term contract ends automatically without notice on its end date.

You are not owed notice if your employer is entitled to dismiss you without notice because of your conduct, for example gross misconduct.

"I'm being made redundant. What do I get?"

Statutory redundancy pay needs at least 2 years of continuous employment, in Northern Ireland as in the rest of the UK.

It is worked out from your age, how long you have been continuously employed, and your weekly pay:

• 21 and under: half a week's pay for each full year of service;
• 22 to 40: 1 week's pay for each full year of service;
• 41 and above: 1.5 weeks' pay for each full year of service.

No more than 20 years can be counted. For redundancies from 6 April 2026, a week's pay is capped at £783. The most statutory redundancy pay can be is £23,490.

A week's pay includes overtime only if your contract requires you to work it as part of your normal working hours. If your pay varies with the work you do, for example with commission, it is averaged over the last 12 weeks.

Your employer must tell you in writing how your redundancy pay has been worked out. Your contract may give you more than the statutory amount.

"I want to work flexibly"

You can make a statutory request to work flexibly if you are an employee and have worked for your employer for 26 weeks continuously on the date you make the request.

You can make only one statutory request in any 12-month period.

It is a right to ask, not a right to have the change.

Employees with less than 26 weeks' service, agency workers and office holders do not have the statutory right to request flexible working.

"Money has been taken out of my pay"

Your employer can only take money out of your pay if:

• it is required or allowed by law, such as income tax and National Insurance;
• your contract says they can, and you were given a written copy or explanation of that part first; or
• you agreed in writing before the deduction (not after it).

If you work in retail, deductions for till shortages or missing stock cannot be more than 10% of your gross pay for a pay period. The rest can be taken from later pay days, never more than 10% at a time. If you leave, the full amount can be taken from your final pay.

Your employer can also take money to recover an earlier overpayment of wages or expenses, or for time you did not work because you took part in a strike or other industrial action.

If money was taken unlawfully, raise it with your employer first. You can go to an industrial tribunal to get your money (see "Deadlines you must meet"). The LRA or Advice NI can advise.

Paternity leave, parental leave and time off for dependants

• Paternity leave: you can take one or two weeks. Two weeks must be taken together. It can start on any day, but not before the baby is born, and must finish within 56 days of the birth.
• To qualify, you must be an employee and have worked for your employer for at least 26 weeks by the end of the 15th week before the week the baby is due (or the week you are matched with a child, if adopting). Tell your employer in writing at least 15 weeks before the week the baby is due.
• Statutory Paternity Pay can be paid for up to two weeks in a row.
• Unpaid parental leave: each parent can take 18 weeks for each child, up to the child's 18th birthday. You must be an employee with at least one year's continuous service.
• Time off for dependants: as an employee you have the right to unpaid time off to deal with an emergency involving a dependant. That includes your partner, child or parent, anyone living in your household as family, or someone who reasonably relies on you in an emergency. Examples: a dependant falls ill, is injured, is having a baby, or dies. There is no minimum length of service.
• Maternity leave and pay: see our maternity pay guide. Bereavement leave: see our bereavement leave guide.

"Am I an employee, a worker or self-employed?"

• You are an employee if you work under a contract of employment. A worker is anyone who works for an employer under a contract of employment, or any other contract where they agree to do the work personally. If you are self-employed, you do not have a contract of employment with an employer.
• No one thing decides your status. What counts includes how much control the employer has over what you do and how, whether you are part of the business, whether the employer has to offer you work and you have to accept it, and whether you are in business on your own account.
• Employees get all the minimum rights, including statutory sick pay, maternity, adoption and paternity leave and pay, protection from unfair dismissal and redundancy pay. Some need a minimum length of service.
• Workers get core rights, including the minimum wage, rest breaks, paid holiday, protection from unlawful deductions from pay, maternity, paternity and adoption pay (but not leave), whistleblowing protection and protection from discrimination.
• If you are self-employed, you do not have employment rights as such. But you must not be discriminated against, and you are entitled to a safe and healthy place to work on a client's premises.
• Zero hours contracts: see our zero hours guide. Agency workers: see our agency worker guide.

Discrimination at work

• In Northern Ireland it is against the law to discriminate against you at work because of your gender, marriage or civil partnership, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity leave, sexual orientation, disability, race, colour, ethnic background, nationality, religion or political opinion, or age.
• Discrimination can be direct or indirect, and the law also covers harassment and victimisation.
• In most cases you must lodge a tribunal claim within three months of the act of discrimination. Different rules apply to ongoing harassment, equal pay and fair employment complaints. Claims are dealt with in the industrial tribunals and the Fair Employment Tribunal.
• Before you can lodge a tribunal claim, you must notify the LRA and consider early conciliation.
• The Equality Commission's Discrimination Advice Officers give free, confidential advice. They can give you a questionnaire to ask your employer for information about your complaint.

Disciplinary and grievance meetings

• Disciplinary: Northern Ireland has "statutory minimum procedures". Your employer must write to you setting out the reasons, hold a meeting, tell you its decision, and give you a chance to appeal.
• If your employer dismisses you without following the statutory procedure, the dismissal will normally be automatically unfair. If you do not appeal before going to a tribunal, any compensation you win may be reduced.
• You have a legal right to take someone with you to a disciplinary or grievance meeting: a colleague or a trade union representative.
• Grievance: try talking to your employer informally first. If that does not help, write to your employer with the details. Your employer should arrange a meeting at a reasonable time and place. If you appeal, do it in writing without unreasonable delay.
• There is no legally binding grievance process, but the LRA Code of Practice sets out what you and your employer should do. If either of you unreasonably fails to follow it, a tribunal award could be adjusted by up to 50%.
• The LRA's Code of Practice on disciplinary procedures can be taken into account in an unfair dismissal claim.

"My employer won't give me my rights. What can I do?"

Before most claims you must notify the Labour Relations Agency (LRA). Early conciliation through the LRA is free. You can't go to a tribunal without at least considering it, unless you are exempt.

If you notify the LRA within your time limit, the clock stops for up to 1 calendar month while conciliation takes place, plus up to 14 more days if both sides agree.

Contact the LRA on 03300 555 300.

Deadlines you must meet

• Most claims: 3 months less 1 day, including unfair dismissal and discrimination.
• Claims under the Merchant Shipping (Maritime Labour Convention) (Hours of Work) Regulations 2018 and the Civil Aviation (Working Time) Regulations 2004: 6 months less 1 day where the act complained of happened on or after 1 October 2026.
• A complaint that your employer did not let you see your minimum wage records: 6 months less 1 day where the failure happened on or after 1 October 2026. Claims for minimum wage arrears, or for being treated badly for asserting the minimum wage, keep 3 months less 1 day.
• Statutory redundancy pay: 6 months from the date the employment ended.
• Early conciliation: tell the LRA within your time limit.
• Your exact date depends on your facts: see our tribunal deadline guide.

Money figures

• Minimum wage from 1 April 2026: £12.71 (21 and over), £10.85 (18 to 20), £8.00 (under 18 and apprentices).
• Statutory sick pay from 6 April 2026: £123.25 a week, or 80% of normal weekly earnings if lower.
• Redundancy pay, for redundancies from 6 April 2026: a week's pay is capped at £783; the most statutory redundancy pay can be is £23,490.

Traps

• Do not use Great Britain rules in Northern Ireland: there is no Acas early conciliation here. Use the LRA.
• Unfair dismissal needs 1 year here, not 2 years. The 6-month rule from January 2027 is a Great Britain change only.
• The Great Britain right to ask for flexible working from day one does not apply here. You need 26 weeks, and you can make one request in 12 months.
• The written statement is due within 2 months of starting, not on the first day as in Great Britain.
• The Great Britain redundancy pay cap does not apply here. The Northern Ireland cap is £783 a week.
• Do not apply the Great Britain rules on paternity leave and parental leave from April 2026 here. In Northern Ireland you still need 26 weeks' service for paternity leave and one year for unpaid parental leave (see the section above).
• Bank and public holidays are not an extra statutory right on top of the 5.6 weeks.