There is a range of differences between employment law applicable in Ireland and Northern Ireland and many employers, particularly smaller businesses, find the whole area of employment law daunting.

Employment law across the jurisdictions is constantly developing, never more so than in recent post-pandemic times, highlighting the need for employers to consider remote or home working, flexible working requests or redundancy issues.

On a day to day level employers need to be aware of the law as it applies in their jurisdiction around issues including annual leave, discipline, rates of pay, notice periods, equality, amongst others.

A comparative guide to employment law in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Great Britain is available to download here. Produced by Legal Island, the guide is accurate as at November 2022.

See also

What You Should Know – Workplace Relations Commission

Labour Relations Agency – Official | Improving employment relations in Northern Ireland (lra.org.uk)

Cross border issues

Cross border or frontier workers, who live on one side of the border and commute to work on the other side, are usually subject to the employment law of their work location, either North or South.  These employees generally enjoy the same terms and conditions at work as other employees who are resident in the jurisdiction in which they work. However, they may need to submit tax returns each year in their home country and claim certain family benefits in their country of employment – this can be complex so advice and guidance should be sought from a local advice organisation.

Page checked: March 2023

This webpage is for general information purposes only and while we endeavour to keep it up-to-date, errors may occur. It is very important that you check with the relevant body to ensure the information is current and is applicable to your situation.

If you would like to suggest amendments or highlight new information that could be useful to others please don’t hesitate to get in touch.