Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998

Citation	SI 1998/3162 (N.I. 12)
Territorial extent	Northern Ireland
Dates
Made	3 December 1979
Commencement	3 January 1980
Status: Current legislation
Text of the Statutory Rules (Northern Ireland) Order 1979 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

The Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 (SI 1998/3162 (N.I. 12)) is an order in council for Northern Ireland consolidating and strengthening legislation regarding "fair employment". ^[1]

Provisions

The order established the ^[1]

• statutory monitoring of the part-time workforce
• outlawing of discrimination on the grounds of religious belief or political opinion in the provision of goods, facilities and services

Amendments

Fair Employment (School Teachers) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022

The Fair Employment (School Teachers) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 amended the Order to remove the exemption that teachers had from the legislation ^[2] The exemption of teachers from the original legislation was described as an anachronism which justified discrimination. ^[3]

The Catholic Bishop of Derry, Donal McKeown, has supported the legislation, and said the exemption was "no longer appropriate or required" and also described the assumption that everyone was either a Catholic or a Protestant as bizarre, while also noting concerns the move could be used as a "Trojan horse" to remove a Catholic ethos in schools. ^[4] Arlene Foster had supported removing the exemption in 2021. ^[5]

References

1. Russell, Raymond T (10 August 2012). "Fair Employment in Northern Ireland: the decades of change (1990 – 2010)" (PDF). Northern Ireland Assembly. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 September 2015. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
2. Meredith, Robbie (26 October 2021). "NI education: Teachers' fair employment law exemption 'outdated'". BBC News. Archived from the original on 29 March 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
3. Meredith, Robbie (13 May 2019). "Teachers 'should be covered by fair employment laws'". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 17 May 2019. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
4. Meredith, Robbie (24 February 2022). "Fair employment legislation: Bishop backs ending teacher exemption". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 24 February 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
5. Meredith, Robbie (20 April 2021). "Teacher fair employment law exemption needs addressed, says Foster". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 4 October 2024.