Immigration New Zealand has announced a variety of changes to work visas and how migrant workers are employed. These changes will be happening in stages over the next 18 months and will be completed in 2021. Two of the most significant changes are: Employers will need to be accredited employers in order to hire migrant workers. Sector Agreements will apply to some industries.

It was big, grey and right outside Invercargill Pak’n Save. Around its neck was a sign saying, ‘Don’t Be a Rat Mr Dobson.’

Is behaviour outside working hours solely a private matter? Does an employer have any business passing judgement on private conduct? Well sometimes, yes. Conduct outside the workplace can impact on the employment relationship by bringing the employer into disrepute. Sometimes that impact can be serious enough to justify dismissal [1].

There is a point at the end of most mediation sessions, usually after documents have been signed and water glasses and whiteboard markers are being cleared away, where one of the parties turns to someone, maybe the mediator or maybe one of their own support people, and says, “I’m so relieved.”

In a recent Employment Court case, the Court confirmed that employers who seek to require an employee to be available for additional hours of work outside those set out in their employment agreement will need to Ensure they have genuine reasons for requiring the employee’s additional availability; Include an availability provision in their employment agreement; and ensure the employee receives reasonable compensation for the required availability.

1 April 2019: Three60 Consult, (previously Paul Diver Associates) is delighted to announce the appointment of Anna Jones as Chief Executive Officer and Director effective from 1 April 2019.

15 March 2019: A significant number of changes have recently been introduced into the legislation governing employment relationships.  Some of these changes have already taken effect, whilst there are further changes coming in April, May and June this year.

25 September 2018: The Equal Pay Amendment Bill has been introduced to Parliament on the 125 year anniversary of women getting the vote. The Bill provides employees with the right to make a pay equity claim and sets out the process for the parties to follow if a claim has merit. The Bill specifies that a claim will have merit if it relates to work predominantly performed by women and there are reasonable grounds to believe that the work has historically or currently is undervalued. The commentary has made it clear that an employee will have a low threshold to meet for raising a claim

A recent Authority case yet again highlights the serious consequences business owners face for not paying employees in accordance with their minimum statutory entitlements.

We have positions available in both our Conflict Resolution and ER Support Teams, for which we are looking for people with a strong understanding of the New Zealand employment relations jurisdiction and best practice ER/HR advice.  Depending on your level of experience and expertise, your work could involve a variety of things from employment agreements, policies, health and safety, disciplinary and performance matters, recruitment, restructuring and redundancies through to high level employment relations strategy, collective bargaining, dispute resolution, conflict management, mediations, investigations and change management.