30-day rule for new employees to be repealed
The Coalition Government has today announced changes to employment regulations relating to collective agreements, to be included in the Employment Relations Amendment Bill due to
The Coalition Government has today announced changes to employment regulations relating to collective agreements, to be included in the Employment Relations Amendment Bill due to
The Employment Relations Authority (the Authority) have found that resignations resulting from concerns of personal safety in the workplace and a failure to address these concerns can result in constructive dismissal, paired with a hefty price tag. In this case, a 17-year-old employee resigned after just 19 days of employment, stating they did not feel safe to return to work. The employee was also not provided with an employment agreement, despite requesting one. The Authority therefore considered what a reasonable
Well, we are off to an interesting start to 2023, for those of us interested in minimum entitlements legislation. An Employment Court decision has ruled that the owners of four alcohol retail stores are personally liable to pay five former employees wages and holiday pay, totalling $259,685. The owner of the businesses has also been banned from employing anyone for a year. Employment Court cases can be lengthy. However, in this case, the Labour Inspectorate and the Respondents filed a
Last December the Fair Pay Agreements Act come into force. This Act enables unions to negotiate the employment terms and conditions for whole industries or roles across multiple industries at once. Many businesses across New Zealand don’t realise the wide reaching implications this will have for them. Businesses that have little or no union involvement, or consider they are paying their staff well above minimum rates often think an FPA will have little effect on them. This is unlikely to
A recent case by the Authority has warned against a rushed summary dismissal process even if the conduct or behaviour by an employee is serious misconduct. An employee working at a Club was “instantly dismissed” after the Employer became aware of the employee retaining a club members’ food and drinks voucher and used it to purchase food and drinks for his own personal consumption as well as taking an opened bottle of wine from the club premises. While neither party
As we are coming into Summer and the holiday period, organisations are having their Christmas and social functions, and colleagues may be catching up after work for a few drinks. ‘Tis the season to be jolly…But is it also the season of sexual harassment? A recent report came out this year showing that 30% of workers have experienced sexual harassment in the past five years (Human Rights Commission). The Human Rights Act 1993 defines sexual harassment as ‘any unwelcome or
Although the COVID restrictions in NZ have been removed, many people are still working from home some, if not most, days of the week. Remote/hybrid working has become the new normal for many roles and may even be an expectation from employees. A recent Remote Work Report from Employment Hero has shown that 48% of employees would consider quitting their jobs if their employers forced them back into the office full-time. A large motivator for kiwis wanting to work remotely
It’s time for New Zealand’s media industry to make way for the Screen Industry Workers Bill, which introduces a collective bargaining framework that will allow contractors in the Screen Industry to be covered by minimum terms and conditions of work across their occupation and within specific projects with production companies. This Bill is a stake in the ground from the Government, who have introduced this Bill alongside the recently passed Fair Pay Agreements Bill, with the intention to create new
Once Labour Day has been [yes, believe it or not it’s this coming Monday], the next public holidays are at Christmas and New Year. It always feels like employers have to put a bit more thought into Christmas and New Year because: there are four public holidays; this is a time that many businesses have their annual closedown period; many employees take their annual leave; some employees don’t have enough leave to cover this period; some employment agreements have special rates for these public holidays; and, let’s face it, it is a busy busy busy time. In the next few weeks, my colleague, Tasneem Begum, and I will be offering a free webinar for those employers who want a bit more information around those tricky calculations for leave at this time of the year. We will also be able to answer the questions you have and the challenges you face with leave during the Christmas/New Year period. You are not alone with the questions you have – Questions we are often asked at this time of the year are about employing staff to cover the busy Christmas period
I have had one of those weeks where I have been in full day mediations virtually every day out of Auckland. What hit me at these mediations is the despair that people find themselves in by the time they arrive at my door. With varying degrees, all of these mediations had people in deep emotional turmoil. Anguish, frustration, anger and deep sadness, to the point where I had to pause to ensure the people were in the right space to make good decisions for themselves.
While we are conscious of the impact that inflation is having on wage and salary conversations, there are four other levers that have been, and are being, used to bring about fundamental change and significant uplift to pay in New Zealand. The Government is using these levers to drive increases in pay at various levels in ways that we may not be conscious of. However, when brought together as a single thread, they are having a big impact.
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