This is whether an individual is from the Protestant community or the Roman Catholic community in Northern Ireland, or neither.
Although not a legal requirement, we also recommend monitoring by age, disability, race, marital status, civil partnership status, sexual orientation, and those with and without dependents. Monitoring these additional grounds is good practice and a good way of getting a clear picture of what is happening in your organisation. It can identify patterns that you might not otherwise notice, and ensure that unintentional discrimination is not taking place.
The best method for recording this information is to use an equal opportunities monitoring form questionnaire that directly asks individuals to specify which areas apply to them.
We recommend one of the following:
These forms will enable you to comply with your duties under Fair Employment legislation.
As a registered employer you are required to monitor your:
- employees
- job applicants
- appointees
- apprentices.
If you have more than 250 employees you are also required to monitor:
Although private, voluntary and community sector employers who employ fewer than 250 employees are not obliged by the Fair Employment legislation to monitor their promotees and leavers, we recommend 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.