This year the recognised Public Holidays over the Christmas and New Year period are as follows:

A recent determination from the Employment Relations Authority has found a voluntary, unpaid pre-employment test did not form part of a trial period.  The employees personal grievances for unjustified dismissal and disadvantage failed.

On 24 November, Leah, Fiona, Phil and Robyn presented the first test/pilot seminar on Health and Safety, designed specifically for the Inter Church Bureau by Paul Diver Associates.  All going well, next year our Associates will tour around the country facilitating numerous training sessions from Whangarei to Invercargill, spreading the word on health and safety.  The seminars will focus on critical points for health and safety around the Church and the different options they provide for their communities.

Paula Bennett, Michael Woodhouse

Redundancy is generally considered to be a situation where an employee’s position is surplus to the employer’s commercial needs. Employers must be able to justify redundancies substantively (show that they are genuine) and procedurally (that a fair procedure was followed). An employer who fails to carry out a proper restructure process will be potentially liable for remedies such as compensation, penalties, lost remuneration and reinstatement.

October 21, 2015 The Human Rights Commission has welcomed plans to set up a working group to develop agreed principles on pay equity for all sectors of the economy.

The Government has introduced the Employment Standards Legislation Bill. In essence, this is to provide harsher sanctions for exploitative employment practices involving breach of statutory minima relating to wages and holidays. Greater investigative powers for Labour Inspectors and employment institutions will assist in bringing perpetrators to account.

A business that failed to accommodate an employee’s requests not to work Saturdays following his return to the practices of the Seventh Day Adventist Church was found to be in breach of the Human Rights Act by the Human Rights Review Tribunal.

The Employment Court gave some useful pointers on how it arrives at awards of compensation for hurt and humiliation in the context of a case of an employee whose short-lived employment of about three weeks ended with two days of “stressful and traumatic” circumstances.