GB registered company with Northern Ireland office – which jurisdictional employment law applies?
Published on: 05/02/2021
Article Authors The main content of this article was provided by the following authors.
Seamus McGranaghan Director – Commercial, Education, Employment & Licensing, O'Reilly Stewart Solicitors
Seamus McGranaghan Director – Commercial, Education, Employment & Licensing, O'Reilly Stewart Solicitors
Seamus mcgranaghan 2021
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Seamus McGranaghan qualified as a Solicitor in O'Reilly Stewart Solicitors in 2003 and is an experienced Commercial Lawyer dealing with employment, commercial and education cases.

He has experience in the Industrial Tribunal representing both Claimants and Respondents and has provided seminars in relation to particular areas of employment law. Seamus is the only member of the Education and Law Association in Northern Ireland. He specialises in advising schools and colleges on policy matters, employment issues and student welfare. He is also responsible for the Education Law Quarterly Review.

In addition to having contributed at Legal Island’s Education Updates since 2010, Seamus in association with Legal Island provides a live “Employment Law @ 11” webinar on the first Friday of each month, dealing with all aspects of Employment law affecting Northern Irish employers.

What is the situation regarding a GB registered company that has a Northern Ireland office? As I believe, Northern Ireland is still under EU employment law, and GB is under UK law. I don't know if that's quite the case, but here, Seamus?

Seamus: Look, the basics are that if you have an employment contract in Northern Ireland, and if you work in Northern Ireland, then you're governed by the legislation that applies here in Northern Ireland itself. A common misconception sometimes is that you'll get GB companies and the employee will live, will work and reside in Northern Ireland and their work is here. If their contract of employment is governed by English and Welsh law, and not Northern Irish law but ultimately, they're entitled to benefit from the legislation that applies in the jurisdiction that they work in here in Northern Ireland.

And so, you know, from my point of view, if it's the opposite way around where you are a NI company but you're employing people over in England, they're entitled to enjoy terms and conditions in England, that legislation that would apply. Thankfully, it all is pretty much similar. Obviously, look, there's a number of differences but you know you're governed here and you're protected here by the legislation and by the courts, the jurisdiction of the courts here in Northern Ireland.

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Disclaimer The information in this article is provided as part of Legal Island's Employment Law Hub. We regret we are not able to respond to requests for specific legal or HR queries and recommend that professional advice is obtained before relying on information supplied anywhere within this article. This article is correct at 05/02/2021