1.— (1) In this Act—

F1[‘agency worker’ means an agency worker to whom the Protection of Employees (Temporary Agency Work) Act 2012 applies;]

“appointed” means, in the absence of an election, appointed by the employees and the basis on which that appointment is made may, if the employees so determine, be such as is agreed by them with the employer;

“Commission” means the Labour Relations Commission;

“consultation” means the exchange of views and establishment of dialogue between either or both—

(a) one or more employees,

(b) the employees’ representative or representatives,

and the employer;

“contract of employment” means a contract of service or of apprenticeship whether express or implied, and if express, whether oral or in writing;

“Court” means the Labour Court;

“Directive” means Directive 2002/14/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2002 establishing a general framework for informing and consulting employees in the European Community;

“employee” means a person who has entered into or works under a contract of employment and references, in relation to an employer, to an employee shall be read as references to an employee employed by that employer;

“employee threshold” has the meaning assigned by section 7;

“employees’ representative” has the meaning assigned by section 6;

“employer”, in relation to an employee, means the person by whom the employee is employed under a contract of employment;

“excepted body” has the meaning assigned by section 6(3) of the Trade Union Act 1941, as amended;

“expert” means an individual, and may be the holder from time to time of a named office or position in a body corporate or other body or organisation;

“information” means transmission by the employer to one or more employees or their representatives (or both) of data in order to enable them to acquaint themselves with the subject matter and to examine it and cognate words shall be read accordingly;

“Information and Consultation Forum” means a Forum established in accordance with Schedule 1 for the purpose of informing and consulting employees;

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

“negotiated agreement” has the meaning assigned by section 8;

“pre-existing agreement” has the meaning assigned by section 9;

“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister;

F1[ ‘relevant information’ means information as respects—

(a) the number of agency workers temporarily engaged to work for the employer,

(b) those parts of the employer’s business in which those agency workers are, for the time being, working, and

(c) the type of work that those agency workers are engaged to do; ]

“relevant workforce threshold” has the meaning assigned by section 4;

“trade union” means a trade union which holds a negotiation licence under Part II of the Trade Union Act 1941, as amended;

“undertaking” means a public or private undertaking carrying out an economic activity, whether or not operating for gain.

F1[(1A) For the purposes of this Act, an agency worker to whom the Protection of Employees (Temporary Agency Work) Act 2012 applies shall, for the duration of the agency worker’s assignment with a hirer (within the meaning of that Act), be treated as being employed by the employment agency concerned, and accordingly references in this Act to contract of employment shall, as respects any such agency worker, be construed as including references to contract of employment within the meaning of that Act.]

(2) A word or expression that is used in this Act and is also used in the Directive has the same meaning in this Act as it does in the Directive.

(3) For the avoidance of doubt, a reference in this Act—

(a) to the negotiation of an agreement establishing information and consultation arrangements or to such an agreement that has been negotiated, or

(b) to an Information and Consultation Forum,

includes a reference—

(i) to the negotiation of more than one such agreement or, as appropriate, to more than one such agreement that has been negotiated, or

(ii) to more than one such Forum.

(4) Subsection (3) is without prejudice to section 18(a) of the Interpretation Act 2005.