Fair Employment (Northern Ireland) Act 1989

24Rectification of the register

(1)Where a person becomes an employer in relation to a concern that is already a registered concern, he shall, within the period of one month beginning with his becoming such an employer, apply to the Commission for his name and address to be entered in the register and the Commission shall include in the entry in the register the name and address given in the application.

(2)If an employer who is required so to apply fails to do so within that period, he is guilty of an offence.

(3)A person guilty of an offence under subsection (2) above—

(a)is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, and

(b)if the failure continues after conviction, is liable on a second or subsequent summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one-tenth of level 5 on the standard scale for each day on which the failure continues.

(4)It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under subsection (2) above to show that he had a reasonable excuse for failing so to apply within that period and that he made such an application as soon as it was reasonably practicable for him to do so.

(5)The Commission may, on an application by a registered employer, rectify the description in the register of the registered concern.

(6)The Commission shall remove from the register any entry in respect of a person who becomes a public authority for the purposes of sections 27 to 37 of this Act.

(7)The Commission—

(a)may remove from the register, in respect of any concern, the name of any person who appears to the Commission to have ceased to be an employer, and

(b)may remove from the register the entry for any registered concern which appears to the Commission to have ceased to exist.

(8)The power conferred by subsection (7) above is exercisable by the Commission of its own motion or on the application of any person.

(9)If a registered employer applies to the Commission to remove from the register the entry for the registered concern and the concern has been registered throughout the year ending on the date of the application, the Commission shall remove the entry if it is of the opinion that the concern did not, at the end of any of the weeks in the period of twenty-six weeks preceding the application, satisfy the condition for registration.

(10)If the Commission exercises its powers under subsection (7) or (9) above, it shall serve notice of its action on any person whose name is removed from the register.

(11)A person who knowingly makes a false statement in connection with an application under subsection (7) or (9) above is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

(12)In this section, “registered employer”, in relation to a registered concern, means the person whose name and address is for the time being included in the entry for that concern in the register.