Accidents and injuries that occur in the workplace are not only dangerous and distressful; they can result in very hefty fines.  Below is a collection of recent examples of how employers have failed to take “all practicable steps” to protect their employee’s from harm.

WorkSafe says this case is a reminder to all involved in construction of how much they rely on fellow workers to do things properly.

The term employee engagement is used to describe the behaviour of employees who are willing to “give” rather than “take”, who go above and beyond, and have mutual commitments to an organisation.  It can also be defined as:

WorkSafe NZ wants to help people deal proactively with the issue of workplace bullying themselves, and to promote healthy work cultures.

Recently, in the decision of The Salad Bowl Ltd v Amberleigh Howe-Thornley [2013] NZEmpC 152, the Employment Court (Court) has scrutinised the practice of using pre-employment work trials.  We can take some valuable lessons from this case to limit employer’s risk of using pre-employment work trials in the future.

Investigation finds safety guard installed on day of injury was “too little too late”.

A penalty of $50,000 payable to the employer has been imposed on an employee who breached his employment agreement with the employer at least 263 times.

Employing family members can lead to problems as the case noted below shows. Family members should always be given written employment agreements and be paid at least the minimum wage.

Any agreement regarding time in lieu to be taken for working over agreed hours should be written into the employment agreement. The agreement should also make it clear whether the time owed will (or will not) be paid out on the termination of employment. If that is not done an employer may face an unexpected claim on termination of the employee’s employment.

An employer’s claim that weekly wages that were less than the minimum wage, paid to a farm worker when cows were being milked, could be offset against wages that were higher than the minimum wage, paid to the worker when the cows were dry, so over the year the employer was complying with the Minimum Wage Act 1983 was unsuccessful.