The world doesn’t stand still, it’s constantly moving and so it the environment in which businesses operate.  Hence, it is very common that the circumstances under which you employed someone may change, and you therefore need to make amendments (or variations) to an employment agreement.

On 25 October, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s Labour Inspectorate served freezing orders which were granted by the Employment Court, on three companies operating Auckland convenience and liquor stores owing over $200,000 for breaches of employment law.  It is the first time the Labour Inspectorate has used section 190 of the Employment Relations Act 2000 in attempt to secure outstanding wage and holiday pay and penalties.

Jessie is employed by Magic Hire Ltd, a company which hires out costumes. Jessie has 40 days of annual leave owing to her. The company has asked Jessie on a number of occasions to reduce the number of days owing to her. However, Jessie has not taken any leave.

An employee is entitled to four weeks of annual leave. The employee has a large amount of annual leave owing. Both the employer and the employee have agreed that the employee can cash up any portion of the annual leave entitlement.

This dancing guy message is short and simple, but true. In order to be a successful leader, you need to be able to create followers.

When a business is sold, staff must be clearly told what is to happen to their jobs. If employment is to end, the vendor employer must carry out a proper redundancy process. If the purchaser wishes to employ existing staff, it must enter into new employment agreements with those staff. A failure to tell employees exactly what is intended may result in both employers having to pay compensation and lost wages to any misled employees.

An employer who wanted to contest the truthfulness of an employee’s stated reason for taking sick leave successfully applied to the Employment Relations Authority for permission to put the employee’s Facebook pages recording the employee’s activities on the relevant dates into evidence. The Authority concluded that the evidence (although not available at the time the employee was dismissed) was relevant to the assessment of remedies, including the possibility of reinstatement, and allowed the evidence to be admitted.

In this article, we will address the following questions:

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal from an aged care provider that sought to deduct KiwiSaver compulsory employer contributions from the minimum wages it paid its caregivers.

The New Zealand Law Society has recommended clarification of proposed changes to clauses in the Employment Relations Amendment Bill.