As an employer you are required to register with the Commission if you have 11 or more employees working 16 hours or more per week. This should be done within one month of reaching this number of staff.
All registered employers should monitor the composition of their workforce in terms of community background and sex. We recommend using an equal opportunities monitoring form questionnaire.
Registered employers are required to submit an annual monitoring return to us. A failure to submit a return is a criminal offence, as is failure to submit one within the prescribed period.
Annual Monitoring Returns - online submission
The Commission has introduced a new way to submit the Annual Monitoring Return Forms. The paper copy form will no longer be posted to each employer. Employers now receive an email on their annual monitoring date with a unique link to our online submission portal. We can resend the online link at any time, email this request to mrf@equalityni.org or you can still download the monitoring return (pdf) and email the return to mrf@equalityni.org, ensuring your registration number, company name, address and email are included.
All registered employers should conduct reviews of the composition of their workforces and of their employment practices. These ‘Article 55’ reviews must be conducted at least once every three years.
Download the relevant booklet for your business/organisation:
This sets out recommendations and good practice for employers regarding their employment duties and responsibilities in Northern Ireland.
Take affirmative action, where it is reasonable and appropriate to do so, and consider setting goals and timetables.
Are you concerned the processing of monitoring information may be a breach of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which came into force on 25 May 2018?
Processing monitoring information is done to comply with the Fair Employment legislation1 and the consent of individual applicants or employees is not required. Employers are obliged to keep written information relating to monitoring for a period of 3-years after the application is made or 3-years after an employee leaves employment, whichever is longer.
The Commission’s Step by Step Guide sets out the information that registered employers are required to process including a copy of the monitoring questionnaire. A free copy of the Step by Step Guide is available online (pdf) or email enquiries@equalityni.org for a hard copy publication.
The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) can provide further information on the GDPR and has an online checklist for employers
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1 Article 6 (1) (c) of GDPR states that that in relation to the processing of personal data consent is not required from an individual where the processing is in order to comply with a legal obligation.
Article 52 of the Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 requires registered employers to prepare for each year and serve on the Commission a monitoring return which contains such information about the employees of the employer and those applying for employment in the concern as may be prescribed in the Regulations.
The
Fair Employment (Monitoring) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999 set out in Schedule 1 the prescribed information.
Regulation 17 obliges an employer to keep written information relating to monitoring for a period of 3 years after an employee leaves employment.
Regulation 18 relates to applicant monitoring information and obliges the employer to retain that information for a period of 3 years after the application is made