{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/employment-relations-2004-order-commencement-no-1-and-transitional-provisions-order-northern-ireland-2004/note",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/employment-relations-2004-order-commencement-no-1-and-transitional-provisions-order-northern-ireland-2004/note.json",
  "legislation": "nisr/2004/519",
  "legislation_title": "The Employment Relations (2004 Order) (Commencement No. 1 and Transitional Provisions) Order (Northern Ireland) 2004",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/employment-relations-2004-order-commencement-no-1-and-transitional-provisions-order-northern-ireland-2004",
  "path": "note",
  "kind": "note",
  "number": null,
  "heading": "Explanatory note",
  "text": "(This note is not part of the Order.)\nThis Order brings into operation on 26th December 2004, Articles 12 to 15 and 18 of the Employment Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 2004 (“the 2004 Order”).\nArticle 12 of the 2004 Order amends Articles 73, 74(1) and 247 of the 1996 Order to extend the existing protections of employees, against detrimental action by their employer for being or not being a member of a trade union or for taking part in the activities of their union, to workers who are not employees.\nArticle 13 of the 2004 Order amends Articles 73 and 75 of the 1996 Order to give protections to workers against detrimental action by their employer for making use of the services of their trade union or for refusing to accept any of the inducements described below.\nArticle 14 of the 2004 Order inserts new Articles 77A to 77F into the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 (“the 1996 Order”). These Articles contain protections for workers against being offered inducements by their employer not to be or to be a member of a trade union, not to take part in the activities of or not to make use of the services of their union, and not to have, or to give up having, their terms and conditions of employment determined by a collective agreement negotiated by their union.\nArticle 15 of the 2004 Order amends Article 136 of the 1996 Order to make the dismissal of an employee for making use of the services of his union or refusing to accept any of the inducements described above unfair.\nArticle 18 of the 2004 Order amends Article 12 of the Employment Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 which confers a right on workers attending a disciplinary or grievance hearing to be accompanied by a work colleague or union official. The amendments modify the role that the person accompanying the worker may play at the hearing.\nThe Order also contains transitional provisions.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2004/519/note",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T01:54:55.902569+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}