2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

“Act of 2001” means the Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001;

“associated employer” shall be read in accordance with subsection (2);

“collective agreement” means an agreement by or on behalf of an employer on the one hand, and by or on behalf of a body or bodies representative of the employees to whom the agreement relates on the other hand;

“comparable permanent employee” shall be read in accordance with section 5;

“conditions of employment” includes conditions in respect of remuneration and matters relating thereto (and, in relation to any pension scheme or arrangement, includes conditions for membership of the scheme or arrangement and entitlement to rights thereunder and conditions related to the making of contributions to the scheme or arrangement);

“contract of employment” means a contract of service whether express or implied and, if express, whether oral or in writing but shall not include a contract whereby an individual agrees with another person, who is carrying on the business of an employment agency within the meaning of the Employment Agency Act 1971 and is acting in the course of that business, to do or perform personally any work or service for a third person (whether or not the third person is a party to the contract);

“employee” means a person of any age, who has entered into or works under (or, where the employment has ceased, entered into or worked under) a contract of employment and references, in relation to an employer, to an employee shall be construed as references to an employee employed by that employer and, for the purposes of this Act, a person holding office under, or in the service of, the State (including a civil servant within the meaning of the Civil Service Regulation Act 1956) shall be deemed to be an employee employed by the State or Government, as the case may be, and an officer or servant of a local authority, a harbour authority, the Eastern Regional Health Authority, the Northern Area Health Board, the East Coast Area Health Board or the South-Western Area Health Board F1[or health board or a member of staff of an education and training board,] shall be deemed to be an employee employed by the authority F1[or board], as the case may be;

“employer” means, in relation to an employee, the person with whom the employee has entered into or for whom the employee works under (or, where the employment has ceased, entered into or worked under) a contract of employment;

“fixed-term employee” means a person having a contract of employment entered into directly with an employer where the end of the contract of employment concerned is determined by an objective condition such as arriving at a specific date, completing a specific task or the occurrence of a specific event but does not include—

(a) employees in initial vocational training relationships or apprenticeship schemes, or

(b) employees with a contract of employment which has been concluded within the framework of a specific public or publicly-supported training, integration or vocational retraining programme;

“Framework Agreement” means the Framework Agreement on fixed-term work concluded by ETUC, UNICE and CEEP annexed to Directive No. 1999/70/EC of 28 June 1999 of the Council of the European Communities;¹

F2["local authority" means a local authority for the purposes of the Local Government Act 2001 (as amended by the Local Government Reform Act 2014);]

“Minister” means the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment;

“permanent employee” means an employee who is not a fixed-term employee;

“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act;

“relevant fixed-term employee” shall be read in accordance with section 5;

“remuneration”, in relation to an employee, means—

(a) any consideration, whether in cash or in kind, which the employee receives, directly or indirectly, from the employer in respect of the employment, and

(b) any amounts the employee will be entitled to receive on foot of any pension scheme or arrangement;

“renewal” includes extension and cognate words shall be read accordingly;

“year” means any period of 52 weeks.

(2) Employers are deemed to be associated if—

(a) one is a body corporate of which the other (whether directly or indirectly) has control, or

(b) both are bodies corporate of which a third person (whether directly or indirectly) has control.

(3) A word or expression that is used in this Act and is also used in the Framework Agreement has, unless the contrary intention appears, the same meaning in this Act as it has in the Framework Agreement.

(4) In this Act—

(a) a reference to a Part or section is a reference to a Part or section of this Act unless it is indicated that reference to some other enactment is intended,

(b) a reference to a subsection, paragraph or subparagraph is a reference to the subsection, paragraph or subparagraph of the provision in which the reference occurs, unless it is indicated that reference to some other provision is intended, and

(c) a reference to any enactment shall be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended, adapted or extended by or under any subsequent enactment (including this Act).