Monitoring  

The second of the key duties requires all registered employers to monitor the composition of their workforce in terms of community background and sex.

 

All registered employers are required to monitor their:

In addition, private, voluntary and community sector employers who employ more than 250 employees, and all specified public authorities are also required to monitor the following persons, too:

Although private, voluntary and community sector employers who employ less than 250 employees are not obliged by the Fair Employment legislation to monitor their promotees and leavers, the Equality Commission recommends that all employers should monitor these categories anyway. It is good practice for employers to monitor and review all their employment practices, including those that have an impact on employees’ opportunities for promotion, and those which cause or contribute to the termination of employees’ contracts of employment. Consequently, it is also good practice to monitor other activities too, such as employees who apply for and obtain training opportunities; employees who are subjected to disciplinary procedures; employees who lodge grievances or complaints.

 

The community background of an individual refers to whether that individual has been treated as belonging to the Protestant community in Northern Ireland, or the Roman Catholic community in Northern Ireland, or neither of these two communities.

 

The principal method for determining community background is to use a questionnaire that directly asks individuals to specify which community they belong to. This is called the Direct Question method of making a determination.

 

The population of Northern Ireland is now more ethnically diverse than it was when the Fair Employment legislation was initially enacted. The Equality Commission recommends, as a matter of good practice, that employers should also monitor the racial group of job applicants and employees. You may access a sample monitoring form in Appendix 10 of the Unified Guide to Promoting Equality of Opportunity in Employment.

 

The Commission recommends that employers use the Model Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form in Appendix 10 of the Unified Guide to Promoting Equality of Opportunity in Employment. This form enables employers to comply with their duties under the Fair Employment legislation and also assist them to monitor the composition of their workforces in respect of other characteristics such as race, disability, age, sexual orientation. 

 

Where a private, voluntary or community sector employer chooses not to monitor any equality characteristics other than the obligatory ones of community background and sex, that employer should at least use a form that complies with the Model Fair Employment Monitoring Form. You may access a copy of this form in Appendix 3 of the Step by Step Guide to Monitoring.

The Commission has published a practical guidance book that addresses the subject of Fair Employment monitoring. The guidance is entitled A Step by Step Guide to Monitoring. 

In addition, the Commission has recently published supplementary guidance addressing frequently asked questions.

  

The third of the key duties requires all registered employers to prepare and submit an annual monitoring return to the Equality Commission. A failure to submit a return is a criminal offence, as is a failure to submit one within the prescribed period.

At the relevant time each year, the Equality Commission will send to every registered employer a pro-forma monitoring return, together with guidance on how to complete it. This guidance will also set out the prescribed period for completing the form and information on how to contact the Equality Commission to obtain further advice and assistance.

Additional links and publications

Standard Occupational Classifications (SOC Codes)
An index to help you classify job titles is available in hard copy from the Equality Commission. It is based on the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) 2000 which is now the main classification system used by UK Government departments. You may refer to this in electronic format via the following two links, Vol 1 and Vol 2.

Fair Employment Monitoring Report
The Commission produces an annual research report based on employers´ monitoring data. The report includes data on the employment composition of individual employers where there are ten or more employees from the Protestant or Roman Catholic communities. The Commission does not publish information on individual employers where there are less than ten Protestant or Roman Catholics as this may identify individual employers and would breach Fair Employment monitoring regulations. Click here to view the most recent Fair Employment Monitoring Report (Report 17).

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