The Employment Relations Act 2000 (the Act) makes provision for hiring employees on trial periods for up to 90 days. If the employee proves to be unsatisfactory, provided the requirements of the Act are met, the employee can be dismissed without following the normal performance management process. Despite this very useful provision, employers continue to ask prospective employees to “do a half day” (or whatever time is agreed) to “see how they get on”. If the worker is not engaged following the test, trouble can follow because the disappointed worker may be motivated to raise a personal grievance claiming he or she was an employee and has been unjustifiably dismissed. If the Employment Relations Authority accepts that the worker was an employee then the employee will undoubtedly win the case.

The Court of Appeal has found in favour of two companies which challenged a finding that they could be required to reimburse their successor to airline catering contracts for the previously accrued leave entitlements of 40 staff who transferred to the successor as Pt 6A of the Employment Relations Act 2000 permits. This is a result that the Employment Relations Amendment Bill currently before select committee would apparently seek to address.

A man applied for a job in a government department. As part of the application process the department used a company which specialised in pre-employment screening of potential employees. The man was unsuccessful in his application, and made a request under principle 6 of the Privacy Act for the personal information held by the government agency in relation to his application. Some information was provided, but some was withheld under section 29(1)(b) of the Privacy Act.

A woman told the Privacy Commission that she had applied for a job as a part-time retail assistant with a large retail chain employer.  The job application had been completed online on the store’s website. As part of the process she was required to consent to the store carrying out a credit check on her. The woman’s application was unsuccessful, and she complained to the Privacy Commission that she considered the store’s collection of her credit report was unnecessary for the purpose of determining whether she was a suitable applicant.

As part of an employment investigation, an employer collected personal information from a man’s work computer. The information collected included emails sent to and from the work computer, as well as key stroke logs for the computer. The employer used information collected from key stroke logging to access the man’s personal web-based email account and copy several emails.

Section 4(1) of the Employment Relations Act 2000 imposes an absolute duty on the parties to an employment relationship not to mislead or deceive the other.

An organisation may allow employees to work from home (or some other remote location) in a number of different circumstances. It may be part of an organisation’s encouragement of work-life balance; or it may be in response to an employee’s request for flexible working arrangements; or it may be temporary because the workplace is inaccessible or unavailable for some reason.

Simon Bridges, 7 August 2013

Labour Inspectors make sure that employers operate within the law in relation minimum entitlements – that is things like minimum wages, annual leave, and public holidays.  They can take action to enforce minimum standards through the Employment Relations Authority.

The Employment Relations Authority (ERA) is a more formal step to resolving an employment dispute or personal grievance if mediation doesn’t work. The ERA is an independent body set up to investigate workplace disputes. 

Both employers and employees can lodge an application in the ERA, the filing fee currently costs $71.56.