Time off and training
[ch 7: pages 41-42]Negotiating reps and ICE reps are entitled to reasonable paid time off during working hours to perform their functions as a representative (regulation 27).
Payment should be at the appropriate hourly rate, “one week’s pay divided by the number of normal working hours in a week for that employee when employed under the contract of employment in force on the day when time is taken” (regulation 28). What that means, where the number of normal hours differs from week to week or over a longer period, is set out in the regulations.
If an employer unreasonably refuses to grant the time off or pay for it, complaints can be made, not to the CAC but to an employment tribunal (see page 58). They must usually be brought within three months of the date when the time was (or should have been) taken off, although a tribunal can, in exceptional circumstances, extend this period if it was not “reasonably practicable” to bring a complaint within three months. Where a complaint is upheld, the tribunal must make a declaration and order the employer to pay the employee what they were entitled to.
Neither the standard provisions nor the ICE regulations as a whole make any reference to training. However, appropriate training can help reps understand the information they are given, and unions may wish to include the issue in negotiated agreements.