Transnational Information and Consultation of Employees Act, 1996

Protection of employees' representatives.

17.—(1) Employees' representatives who are employees and who perform their functions in accordance with this Act shall not—

(a) be dismissed or suffer any unfavourable change in their conditions of employment or any unfair treatment, including selection for redundancy, or

(b) suffer any other action prejudicial to their employment,

because of their status or reasonable activities as employees' representatives.

(2) Employees' representatives shall be afforded such reasonable facilities, including time off, as will enable them to carry out their functions as employees' representatives promptly and efficiently.

(3) Subsections (1) and (2) shall apply in particular to attendance by employees' representatives at meetings of Special Negotiating Bodies, European Employees' Fora, European Works Councils or any other meetings within the framework of an agreement referred to in section 11 (1) or of the Second Schedule .

(4) Employees' representatives who are employed in a Community-scale undertaking or a Community-scale group of undertakings shall be paid their wages (within the meaning of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991 ) for any period of absence for the purposes of the performance of their functions under this Act.