Ref a4 0538 web

June 2015

equality

equality

June 2015

News from the Equal Opportunities Committee

Shared Parental Leave

… Your Questions Answered

A Year in Review Bullying and Harassment

The role of the Trade Union Representative

Women and Austerity

Why women are bearing the brunt of the cuts

Disability Action

The right information at the right time

Proposed changes to age discrimination law

1

2

equality

June 2015

A Year in R

The work of NIPSA’s Equal Opportun Alanagh Rea, Chair, NIPSA Equal Opportunities Committee Once again, I have the pleasure of being the Chairperson of NIPSA Equal Opportunities Committee and of introducing this year’s Equality News by giving a brief overview of just some of the work the Equal Opportunities Committee has been involved in over the past year.

Dignity at Work Event NIPSA’s Dignity at Work annual event was held in November 2014 in Youth Action in Belfast and was attended by about 80 NIPSA reps and members with NIPSA President Pádraig Mulholland, giving the opening address. Mark McAllister from the Labour Relations Agency then gave a presentation on Bullying and Harassment in the Workplace focussing on the differences between bullying NIPSA members at the Dignity at Work Event.

and harassment, recent case law developments and the contemporary themes of cyber bullying, use of harassment contact officers, external consultants, risk assessments and confidential recipients and policy reform. Patricia Harte from Action Mental Health then spoke on the impact of bullying and harassment on your mental health.

Geraldine Alexander, NIPSA Assistant Secretary followed, speaking on a Trade Union Response – the role of the rep and negotiating a policy and procedure. A panel discussion followed which proved very popular with lots of interesting questions and comments Patricia Harte from Action from the participants. Mental Health

June 2015

Review

equality

June 2014 to May 2015

nities Committee

Racial Equality Strategy, the OFM/ DFM Sexual Orientation Strategy, the DEL Work and Families Bill, the DOJ Criminal Law on Abortion and the DHSSPS/DOJ Stopping Domestic and Sexual Violence and Abuse in NI 2013-2020. We supported the Employers for Childcare petition and wrote to DOJ on the NI Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Further Provisions and Support for Victims) Bill.

Domestic Violence We continue to raise awareness of Domestic Violence, to issue our Guide on Domestic Violence as required and work with employers to ensure an active workplace policy and procedure is in place, monitored and reviewed. We campaign on the issue, participate in International Women’s Day and are represented on Domestic Violence Partnerships.

We analysed the TUC publication, “Unequal, Trapped and Controlled” which confirmed the evidence presented by NIPSA as part of the Welfare Reform campaign that the potential for a simple monthly household benefit to be misused by an abusive partner is significant.

Mark McAllister from the Labour Relations Agency addresses the Dignity at Work Event.

Workplace bullying and harassment is obviously an issue for our reps (see article featured on pages 8-9) and members and it appears to be increasingly so in this time of austerity. Verbal and written feedback on the event was that it was excellent with participants asking for more similar events.

Our Dignity at Work Guide was updated to take account of a number of court decisions, legislative and social media developments and now also includes new information on LGB&T issues and was issued to branches in August. It is proving to be in demand and further copies can be obtained from NIPSA HQs.

Equality Legislation and Consultation Developments In the past year, the Equal Opportunities Committee submitted responses to the OFM/DFM

Disability A major focus of the work of the committee was raising awareness of issues facing our members with a disability and engaging with NIPSA’s Disability Champions. We held Disability Champion Forum events during

3

4

equality

June 2015

Equality Newsletter and Ezine

the year which provided an opportunity to exchange information and best practice.

Guest speakers included Ciaran Trainor from the Equality Commission NI speaking on the Disability Discrimination Act and the application of attendance management procedures and Kevin Doherty from Disability Action NI speaking on Disability Action services, networks and alliances, research, job match and employment advocacy.

An equality newsletter and ezine was issued during 2014 and articles are published regularly in NIPSA Reports and NIPSA We continue to work with employers to ensure News on key equality Mental Health and Disability Leave Policies are issues. An ezine setting developed, active, monitored and reviewed. out the key changes in NIPSA is represented on the ICTU Disability the Work and Families (NI) Act 2015 was recently Committee by Marcel Dummigan and Tina Creaney sent to branches and an article on this issue is who attend the committee meetings and the annual featured on pages 5-7.

ICTU Disability Conference.

Racism and Migrant Workers We appointed two NIPSA representatives, Pat Gray and Sean Paul Conlon, to the ICTU Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Committee. We issue information to branches raising awareness and want to develop our work in this area in the incoming year.

ICTU Women’s Committee NIPSA is represented on the ICTU Women’s Committee by Geraldine Alexander and myself who attend regular meetings. Several women from the Equal Opportunities Committee and branches attended Congress Joint Women’s Committee seminar in March in Belfast and a report of that seminar was featured in NIPSA News.

As delegates from the ICTU Women’s Committee, Geraldine Alexander and I attended the Women of the Isles Conference in London in November. We heard the Scottish delegates speak on Women’s Participation in the Political Process, the Welsh delegates on Women’s Mental Health, the English delegates on Women and Casualisation and the Gender Pay Gap and our own delegation on Violence Against Women. There was also a woman from UK Feminista speaking on the Ending the Demand for Sexual Exploitation campaign.

Name Change The Equal Opportunities Committee decided to change the name of the committee to the Equality Committee and this has been approved by the General Council and will be presented to Conference 2016.

June 2015

equality

Shared Parental Leave… … Your Questions Answered Focus on New Rights to Shared Parental Leave and Flexible Working

■■ Working parents can decide how they would like to share the remaining leave.

The Work and Families (Northern Ireland) Act 2015 and associated regulations has introduced new rights for working parents. From 5th April 2015 the key changes under the Act include:

■■ The new regulations will allow parents to convert the woman’s entitlement into parental leave and pay which they can both share, either separately or at the same time.

■■ New right to shared parental leave; ■■ All employees can apply to work flexibly; ■■ New right for partners to take unpaid time off to attend up to two ante-natal appointments; ■■ New rights for those intending to adopt, bringing adoption rights and pay in line with those who have biological children.

Shared Parental Leave The new system applies to mothers whose expected week of childbirth is on or after 5 April 2015 as well as adoptive parents who have been matched for adoption on or after that date.

To qualify for shared parental leave, employees must meet a number of eligibility requirements and then follow prescribed notice requirements in order to take the leave.

Additional Paternity Leave Additional Paternity Leave and pay will no longer be available for babies due after 5 April 2015. It will be replaced with the new right to shared parental leave and pay.

Other Sources of Information The Labour Relations Agency has produced a guide to the new provisions. They have also produced a sample Shared Parental Leave policy. See also Shared Parental Leave – your questions answered.

The leave must be taken within the first year after For more detailed information on the SPL the baby is born and the mother has to take at Regulations see NI Direct website http://www. least two weeks maternity leave directly after the nidirect.gov.uk birth. Under the new system: ■■ Mothers will still be entitled to 52 weeks’ maternity leave but will have flexibility as to whether to take the leave as maternity leave or shared parental leave.

■■ Mothers can choose to end their maternity leave after the initial two-week compulsory maternity leave.

■■ Mothers will no longer need to wait until their child is 20 weeks old before their partner can go on leave (a condition of additional paternity leave, which is being scrapped).

Flexible Working

The Work and Families (Northern Ireland) Act 2015 extended the right to request to work flexibility to all employees, regardless of their caring responsibilities. The existing statutory framework which has existed since 2002 will continue to apply in terms of timeframes, accompaniment and appeals and so on.

There is still not a right to work flexibility, but an employer is under a statutory duty to consider a request and to provide good reasons for rejecting it. To be eligible to apply for flexible working, an employee must:

5

6

equality

June 2015

■■ Be an employee; ■■ Have worked for their employer continuously for 26 weeks at the date the application is made; and ■■ Not have made another application to work flexibly during the past 12 months.

For further information see the LRA Information Note 12. (http://www.lra.org.uk/information_note_12_the_right_to_ request_flexible_working__2_.pdf).

For more detailed information on flexible working provisions see NI Direct website.

Ante-Natal Appointments From April 2015, an expectant father or the partner of a pregnant woman has a legal entitlement to unpaid time off work to attend up to two ante-natal appointments. The maximum amount of time off work that can be taken for each appointment is 6.5 hours. All employees have the right from day one. Agency workers qualify for this right if they have been in the same role for the same hirer for 12 weeks or more.

Adoption Leave and Pay From April 2015 statutory adoption pay is brought into line with statutory maternity pay by setting it at 90% of normal earnings for the first six weeks. The right is introduced for prospective adoptive parents to take time off before the adoption to have contact with the child and professionals making arrangements for the adoption. Entitlement to adoption leave and pay is also introduced for parents in surrogacy arrangements.

Further information on the new law for parents can be found at the NI Direct website

Shared Parental Leave…your questions answered Q. How do we know if we qualify for shared parental leave?

A. There is a list of requirements that you both have to meet on the DELNI website. Basically, if you’re both in paid work and you’re entitled to maternity leave, statutory maternity pay or maternity allowance then you’ll be able to convert some of that into shared parental leave and pay which your partner can use if they have at least 26 weeks’ service with their employer by the time you’re about 5-6 months pregnant.

Q. Can I share parental leave with my partner even if he’s not the baby’s father?

A. Yes, you can if you’re married to your partner or in a long-term relationship and your partner is going to share responsibility for bringing up your child with you.

June 2015

Q. Can a mother take shared parental leave instead of maternity leave?

A. Yes. Once a mother brings her maternity leave to an early end and creates some shared parental leave she can use it as well as her partner. The advantage is that shared parental leave doesn’t have to be taken in a single block like maternity leave does, so a mother can go back to work for a bit and then use shared parental leave to take some more time off later on.

Q. What about single mothers?

A. If a mother isn’t sharing responsibility for raising her child with a partner or the father of the baby then she won’t qualify for shared parental leave. She can only use maternity leave.

Q. Can both parents take leave at the same time?

A. Yes, both parents can be off work at the same time. For example, a mother could let her employer know before she has her baby that she doesn’t plan to use all of her 12 months maternity leave and she wants to change some of it into shared parental leave. Her partner could then take some of that shared parental leave to be off work just after the baby is born.

Q. I’m adopting a child with my partner will we have access to shared parental leave too?

A. Yes, if you qualify for adoption leave and pay you’ll be able to convert some of that to shared parental leave if you want to.

Q. What about parents in same-sex relationships?

A. You’re entitled to the same leave and pay rights as parents in opposite-sex relationships.

Q. My employer provides fully paid maternity leave, will they have to provide full pay to anyone who takes shared parental leave as well?

A. No, they won’t – although some may choose to (and some lawyers think if they don’t this might be challenged as sex discrimination). If you do get full pay for maternity leave then you need to think carefully about ending your maternity leave early and switching to shared parental leave as you could lose out financially.

Q. Can I take shared parental leave after my child is a year old?

A. No, it can’t be used after the child’s first birthday. However, you could use the entitlement to 18 weeks’ unpaid parental leave. From April 2015, this leave can be used up to your child’s 18th Birthday so it could be useful for things like school holidays.

Q. As a father can I request flexible working?

A. All employees with 26 weeks or more service with their employer have the right to request flexible working. Your employer has a duty to consider a request.

equality

7

8

equality

June 2015

Bullying and The role of the Trade Union Representative No one wants to work in an environment where bullying and harassment exists regardless of where it comes from or who it is aimed at. The impact of such an environment is often predictable and increases in sickness absence, stress levels and grievances are the manifestations of such behaviour.

Ideally a good trade union representative should see the warning signs and recognise the symptoms well in advance of anything formal being invoked.

There are in the public sector a multitude of

mechanisms designed to address unwanted conduct such as bullying or harassment including – specific dignity at work policies, harassment contact officers, provision for mediation, refresher training on acceptable behaviour at work and so on.

However, in many cases people may just find comfort in speaking to their union representative about what they are going through and to that extent the role of the representative can become multi-faceted: ■■ To listen, to act as a sounding board, to empathise or to allow someone to vent; ■■ To signpost, advise and support; ■■ To ensure role clarity for themselves and others; ■■ To act where appropriate on behalf of a member; ■■ To manage a members’ expectations; ■■ To either accompany or represent in a formal setting; ■■ To help resolve and repair relationships; ■■ To work towards the eradication of a bullying and harassment culture.

The role of the trade union representative in this context is not easy especially when the individual member being subject to the behaviour is symptomatic of a larger problem perhaps with the office, the section, the building or indeed the department.

June 2015

equality

Harassment However, representatives should be under no illusion that a system or process can be open to abuse and that dignity at work policies can be abused by someone who cites bullying when in fact they are being managed.

A representative must go into any bullying or harassment situation with their eyes open and be well versed in things such as – differences in perception, people being susceptible to certain language and style, abrasive management behaviours, bullying cultures that have not been challenged and so on.

Experienced representatives will know all too well the difficulties associated with members who have allegedly been bullied but it has been one-on-one, behind closed doors, no witnesses, no history of that behaviour and coming down to one person’s word against another person’s word.

A representatives job will often be dictated to by a variety of factors, including the following: ■■ How early in the unwanted behaviour the member has approached them; ■■ What has or has not been done up until the point that the representative has been contacted; ■■ Whether or not the member has kept an audit trail of incidents, dates, times and witnesses; ■■ What processes have failed up until this point; ■■ What the expectations and demands of the member are; ■■ Whether the fabric of the working relationship has been irreparably harmed or even destroyed; ■■ What can realistically be done.

The above list goes to prove that context informs everything and that there is no singularly applicable approach. At one end of the spectrum a member may be being unduly sensitive and there is no real case to answer and at the other a member may need specialist help because they have suffered in silence and their mental health is suffering as a result.

Knowing all this will ensure that representatives do not make value judgements but rather make professional union based assessments on advising and supporting their member by being fully aware of their roles, responsibilities, duties and limitations.

Trade union representatives are an essential mechanism for combating bullying and harassment in the workplace and together with all the other means of eradicating such behaviours we collectively strive to make relations in our place of work better for the future.

9

10

equality

June 2015

Women Are Bearing All the evidence to date from groups like the Fawcett Society and Women’s Budget Groups has confirmed that all women, but particularly the economically and socially vulnerable including women pensioners and single mothers, are bearing the brunt of this Government’s relentless austerity agenda. This is not about money – it’s about ideology. And now that the General Election is over and we have a majority Tory Government we will not only see more of the same in terms of cuts, with the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his Spring Budget pledging a further £30 billion cuts by 2017/18 (£12 billion to the welfare system) and the Stormont House Agreement calling for 20-30,000 public sector job losses, but an unprecedented withdrawal from and opposition to the provision of services as a public good.

They say these cuts are needed to ‘rebalance’ the economy, by shrinking the welfare state and hoping that the private sector can compensate by growing and creating more jobs. The reality is this ‘rebalancing’the economy has seen the slow progress towards gender equality over the last 40 years unravel as women lose their jobs, are pushed into poverty and can no longer access the social security and vital services that enable them to participate on an equal footing in the workplace and society.

The facts are:

Women will lose out from a ‘rebalanced’ jobs market ■■ Almost two thirds of public sector employees are women. Women who work in the public sector are more likely to have equal pay and have fairer chances for promotion that collective bargaining has won.

■■ In comparison, women in the private sector can earn 20% less than men; have weaker terms and conditions of employment and less flexible working making it more difficult for women to balance their caring responsibilities and working lives.

June 2015

equality

the Brunt of Austerity Women are more likely to be in low paid work ■■ Food services, accommodation, retail, residential care and social services (particularly within the private sector) have the highest number of workers below the Living Wage, women account for two thirds of employment in these sectors. Over a fifth of women are defined as low paid, earning less than two thirds of the median wage and almost one third of women earn below the Living Wage (currently set at £7.85 per hour).

Women will lose out from cuts to Public Services Women will bear the brunt of cuts to services as women are more likely than men to use many services including: social care, libraries, education (further and higher education), early years care, sexual/reproductive health services, and health care services.

Cuts in funding for many women’s organisations, including those providing services to support women who are subject to violence, and to support economic opportunities for low income women, will have a direct impact on the most vulnerable women and the poorest communities Women will lose out from changes to Welfare Changes to the social security system and its in our society. rebranding as welfare has had a disproportionate So what is the alternative? impact on women whether in work of out of it. As women remain the primary carers for children, More progressive taxation and an alternative economic model which focuses on fairness they have been most vulnerable to cuts. and equality. Tax Justice – a clamp down on tax ■■ Of the total savings planned by the Tories avoidance and evasion. up to 2018/19, women will bear 80% of the reduction in tax credits and 75% of the So what can we do about it? reduction in benefits; ■■ Get involved in NIPSA’s Public Service Defence Campaign and make our voices heard.

■■ Child tax credits have been frozen since 2010 – 83% of CTC recipients are women.

■■ So far lone parents have been most affected by changes to welfare and tax credits since 2010 – 90% of lone parents are female.

Women will face poverty in retirement ■■ Women are more dependent than men on the state pension and less likely than men to have occupational pensions or private pensions.

■■ The rise in state pension age, up-rate in occupational pensions according to the (lower) CPI measure of inflation rather than RPI, and increase employee contributions to public service pensions will result in more women facing poverty in retirement.

■■ Get the gender impact of the cuts on the agenda at your Branch meetings. Talk to your friends, family and colleagues about the issues.

■■ Lobby your MLA’s and Ministers calling for a full and comprehensive equality impact assessment across all spending plans and to revise the plans in the light of the assessment.

■■ Get involved in your local trades councils and local campaigns.

■■ Get local press interest in stories about services or jobs being cut in your area and the effect that it will have on women and children.

■■ Visit NIPSA’s campaign website www.nipsa. org.uk and Facebook page where you can share your news about cuts being made in your area and find out about local campaigns, meetings and demonstrations.

11

12

equality

June 2015

June 2015

 

equality 

The

Right Information at the Right Time Disability Action has seen an increase in the numbers of people contacting our organisation for help during the economic downturn. People are worried about a wide range of issues redundancy, reasonable adjustments, or pressure around disability related sick absence. It is critical for disabled employees, union representatives and employers to know what support are available to disabled people in work and to get advice on best practice and positive actions to protect the rights of disabled employees.

In an attempt to meet this demand Disability Action established a small but ambitious project called the Employment Advocacy Service. The service was set up in response to the many requests for short term support, information and advice from Disability Action works to ensure that people individuals and their representatives working in a with disabilities attain their full rights as citizens, wide variety of jobs throughout Northern Ireland. by supporting inclusion, influencing Government Disabled people and their representatives who are policy and changing attitudes in partnership with using the service have welcomed the advice and disabled people. support, with the service being commended for its Disability Action is unique in its work, as it is the only Northern Ireland wide pan disability organisation working with disabled people with various disabilities; physical, mental, sensory, learning and hidden. Our work is important as one in five people in Northern Ireland has a disability.

efficiency and professionalism and for providing information which was detailed and in-depth.

More than anything else, people valued the fact that they were not dealing with issues alone.

Delivering the service, it became clear that there was an urgent need for information which We offer a range of services including Information ; employees could turn to quickly. While there is a Policy, Employment and Training Support, Capacity lot of information available about employment Building, Training on Disability & Diversity Issues, legislation and sources of support; what people Transport and Mobility Assessment, all aimed wanted was access to the right information at the at improving the quality of life of people with right time. disabilities in Northern Ireland. Š Disability Action 2015

13

14

equality

The Employment Advocacy Service has now begun to address this need with the creation of a series of easy to read ‘Quick Guides’.

These guides are intended to be informative yet brief, giving a solid overview of key points and contact information for further advice/ clarification if necessary.

June 2015

Further guides will be developed in response to the queries received by our service.

Alongside the Employment Advocacy Service Disability Action provides a wide range of other supports to disabled people throughout Northern Ireland.

If you are interested in a copy of either The first two guides, released this month are of our two new guides, you can contact ‘Telling an Employer about your disability’ and the Employment Advocacy Service at ‘Reasonable Adjustments in the Workplace’.

Disability Action either by phone 028 9029 Looking forward, the Employment Advocacy 7880 or by email employmentadvocacy@ Service plans to extend the range of quick disabilityaction.org. They are also available on guides available in the coming months. The our website by following the link below www. next two planned guides will cover sickness disabilityaction.org/employmentadvocacy absence, and positive actions in recruitment.

© Disability Action 2015

June 2015

 

equality 

Proposed Changes to Law on Age Discrimination On 19 February 2015 the Junior Ministers Jennifer McCann and Jonathan Bell (who has now been replaced by Michelle McIlveen) announced they intended to bring forward proposals to extend the age discrimination law to people aged 16 and over to the provision of goods, facilities and services.

While welcoming the fact there will be a full public consultation on the proposals, NIPSA is disappointed that it will not apply to people of all ages.

NIPSA, together with the Equality Commission and others have been arguing strongly that protection against age discrimination should apply to people of all ages, including children and young people, as people of all ages experience discrimination in accessing goods, facilities and services.

At present, age discrimination law applies only to employment – the only one of the six grounds of antidiscrimination legislation which does not protect people in the important areas of goods, facilities and services.

When the consultation is released NIPSA will be working to have this serious deficit changed so that people of all ages are protected against discrimination when carrying out basic social and economic activities such as using health or financial services, purchasing goods, or accessing facilities.

15

equalit y January 2013

News from

the Equal Oppo

rtunities Com

mittee

raffik.org www.stopthet

STOP

MANG HRU AFFICKIN T

1 0800 555 11 PERS

CRIMESTOP

The latest publications from NIPSA Equal Opportunities Committee are available in print from NIPSA Headquarters and also available to download from the NIPSA website. Back issues are also available from the NIPSA website: http://www.nipsa.org.uk/NIPSA-in-Action/Equal-Opportunities/ Newsletters Views expressed in this Newsletter are not, unless otherwise stated, the views of NIPSA.

Ref A4_0538