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Discrimination
Northern Ireland has some of the toughest Employment Laws in the world.  The standard United Kingdom discrimination regime encompasses:

• Disability Discrimination;
• Sex Discrimination;
• Race Discrimination; and
• Age Discrimination.

Further, due to the troubles we have legislation which prevents:

• Religious discrimination.

The legislative regime requires that an individual must not be treated less favourably on any of the above grounds.  Discrimination can be either obvious or subtle in nature.  If you feel that you failed to get a job or you have suffered unfair treatment at work, whether by fellow employees or your employer for any of the above reasons you may have a claim.

Dismissal
Where an employee has been dismissed they may be able to bring a claim for unfair dismissal, providing they have had at least one years continuous service with their employer.   It is a statutory requirement however that an employee must have been dismissed.  However, if an Employer is deemed to have acted unreasonably and in breach of the contract of employment and the Employee resigns as a result an Employee may claim Constructive Dismissal.

• Dismissal Without Notice
  This is the most common ground for a claim of breach of contract.  It occurs when an employee is dismissed but is not given the notice required by statute or by their contract of employment.
  
• Unfair Dismissal
  Unfair dismissal is where an employer has dismissed an employee in contravention of the statutory regime.  This will commonly occur in three situations:
  
  Unfair Selection for Redundancy
  Employers may need to reduce their workforce due to market pressures.  The tribunal understands this can be a necessity.  However, there is the possibility that selection for redundancy may be unfair.  As such all employers are under a duty to go through a fair process and mark the employee on subjective unbiased criteria.  If they do not an employee may have a claim.
  
  Misconduct
  An employer may dismiss an employee for misconduct.  However, they must follow correct procedures in disciplining and/or dismissing an Employee.  If they do not follow the correct procedures the grounds upon which the dismissal was made may be held to be unfair.
  
  Capability
  An employer may dismiss an employee because they are not capable of carrying out the job.  They may also dismiss an employee if they lack a qualification required for a job.  However in doing so the employer must follow a fair procedure and provide the employee with reasonable opportunity to improve their performance.  If they do not follow the correct procedures the grounds upon which the dismissal was made may be held to be unfair.

Other Statutory Rights
If an employer breaches an employees statutory rights the employee will have a remedy through the Industrial Tribunal.   It is common that employers will breach the right:

• to parental leave
• to a 48 hour working week
• to a contract
• to payslips
• not to have unlawful deductions made from wages
• not to suffer a detriment for Whistle Blowing
• for Part-time Workers not to suffer a detriment compared to full-time workers.