The Department of Employment and Learning (DEL) have undertaken a significant review of employment law. Employment rights are largely devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly. While many rights mirror those in Great Britain there are some significant differences. Particularly many of the extremely detrimental changes introduced by the Government in the last two years have not been implemented in Northern Ireland.

Prospect's submission says there should be no reduction in employment protection law in Northern Ireland. In particular we argue for:

• the qualifying period for unfair dismissal to remain at one year
• the maximum compensatory award not to be reduced
• no introduction of 'protected conversations', where employers can make confidential offers for workers to leave
• minimum consultation periods for redundancy to remain
• protection for whistle-blowers not to be weakened.

Prospect representatives in Northern Ireland responded to our earlier call for comments. We are grateful to all who worked hard on the submission.