Employment legislation

90-day trial period for employees | FAQs Guides  | employment act  | acc  | acc extra cover - FAQs 2009 | human rights act  | minimum wage increase April 2010 |  minimum wage (new entrant) amendment act  | The big 6 - Resource for SMEs from DOL

90-day trial period for employees

12 February 2009 - On 12 December 2008 the Employment Relations Amendment Bill was passed.  This made changes to the Employment Relations Act 2000.  From 1 March 2009, employers who employ 19 or fewer employees will be able to employ new employees on a trial period of up to 90 calendar days.

More information on the new law can be found on the Department of Labour website.

Employment Relations Act

The Employment Act 2000 replaced the Employment Contracts Act 1991. The objective of the act is to build productive employment relationships between employers, employees and unions.

The premise of 'Good Faith' underpins the whole act. Good faith requires you, your employees and unions to deal with each other fairly at all times. No one should mislead or deceive another person and you must consult with employees about any plans for:

• Changes to the business that will have an impact on employees
• Contracting out or selling the business
• Redundancy

Amendments to the Act in 2004 confirmed that the obligations of good faith in the Act are wider than the obligations of mutual trust and confidence, and that parties to an employment relationship must be 'active and constructive' in establishing and maintaining a productive relationship. The amendments also explained employers' obligations to employees when considering selling the business or contracting out the work. In some circumstances, employees may have the right to transfer to the new owner or contractor.

The largest portion of the act deals with unions and good faith bargaining.

Unions are legally recognised and have the exclusive rights to bargain for, and be party to collective employment agreements. Any employee can join a union if they wish but don't have to and a group of 15 employees can set up their own union. There are rules allowing union representatives to enter the work force and have paid time off to attend union meetings.

Striking is allowed under certain circumstances but you are entitled to bring in employees to cover the work for valid health and safety reasons and your existing employees who are not on strike can also agree to do this work.

Existing collective agreements apply to all new employees for 30 days giving the new employee an opportunity to decide whether they wish to join a union. If not then they are entitled to an individual employment agreement.

Every new employee on an individual agreement must be given a copy of their intended agreement; advised to seek independent advice, be allowed to get that advice and be given five working days to achieve this. Not doing this is a breach of 'good faith' and both penalties and unfair bargaining provisions will apply.

Fixed term individual agreements can only be entered into for genuine reasons. You can not use them to limit the rights of an employee and you must give the reason for conclusion of the employment, when and how it will end.

Essentially the Employment Relations Act requires that you behave in a procedurally fair and equitable manner towards all your employees. This includes best practice for the hiring and firing of employees, the manner in which you manage them and the working environment you provide.  Recent amendments have confirmed that employer's actions will be judged on whether what the employer did, and how the employer acted, was what a fair and reasonable employer would have done in the circumstances.

To create an employment contract please click on the following link to the Department of Labour's website www.ers.dol.govt.nz/relationships/builder.

Or click on www.legislation.co.nz to get a copy of the Employment Relations Act..

ACC

ACC – automatic, comprehensive, 24-hour injury cover

When your ACC invoice arrives in the mail, it’s easy to think of ACC as just another form of tax. True, it is compulsory to contribute to ACC if you work for yourself, have your own business, employ staff or earn income in New Zealand. But another way to look at ACC is as a comprehensive package of personal injury insurance, and a potential lifeline if you or your employees have an accident and aren’t able to work. What’s more, unlike other insurance products, you don’t even need to bother about applying for ACC cover – its all done automatically for you!

So what cover do you have from ACC? Click here to find out

ACC Extra cover - 2009 FAQs

hat financial impact would there be on your business if you were injured and had to take time off work to recover? Your questions answered in this FAQ.

The Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2001 came into force in April 2002. It reflects the governments key goals of injury prevention, complete and timely rehabilitation, fair compensation and claimants rights.

The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) administers the accident compensation scheme which provides accident insurance for all New Zealand Citizens, residents and temporary visitors. In return people do not have the right to sue for personal injury.

ACC is charged by the government with responsibility for:

• Preventing injury
• Collecting accident insurance premiums
• Determining whether claims for injury are covered by the scheme and providing the entitlements to those who are eligible
• Paying compensation
• Buying health and disability services
• Advising the government

You as an employer must provide your employees with cover for workplace related personal injuries and are required to take all practicable steps to assist in an injured persons rehabilitation, whether the injury is work related or not.

The ACC will charge levies to your business in relation to the amount of PAYE you pay. Your own ACC levy will depend on whether you treat yourself as an employed shareholder or as a self-employed person.

For more information on levies see www.acc.org.nz

The Act is strongly linked to the Health and Safety in Employment Act. The ACC Partnership Programme encourages you to take responsibility for your own workplace health and safety and injury management. There are levy discounts of up to 20% available for having good safety management practices in place.

Human Rights Act

The Human Rights Act 1993 and the Human Rights Amendment Act 2001 protects us from unlawful discrimination across a number of areas of life. Its aim is to encourage the maintenance and development of harmonious relations between individuals and diverse groups in our society.

The act makes it unlawful to discriminate against someone because of something personal that you don't like such as skin colour, age or sex. These 'grounds' are:

• Sex
• Marital Status
• Religious Belief
• Ethical Belief
• Ethnic or national origins
• Colour
• Race
• Disability
• Age
• Political opinion
• Employment status
• Family status
• Sexual orientation

Discrimination can occur in 'areas' such as; employment and pre-employment, supply of goods and services, education, access to public places, housing and accommodation.

As an employer the act can impact on many areas of your recruitment practices such as advertising, application forms, interviewing, short listing and employing. The provisions of the act also affect your management practices such as training, dismissal and retirement.

You need to take care to avoid issues such as sexual and racial harassment in the workplace and the act lays down expectations for you as an employer.

A copy of the act can be seen on www.hrc.co.nz.

Minimum Wage / New entrant Increases 2010

9 February 2009 - Press release - www.beehive.govt.nz. The Government has moved to increase the minimum wage from $12 to $12.50 in line with the Consumer Price Index, Minister of Labour Kate Wilkinson announced today.

The training and new entrants' minimum wages will increase from $9.60 to $10.

"In reviewing the minimum wage it was clear that, given the current recession, we needed to find a balance between protecting jobs and fair pay for workers.

"We do not want to see workers priced out of the market during these difficult times, but we are confident that a 50c increase, in line with inflation, will not harm businesses.

"The Government is working hard to combat the effects of the economic downturn and ensuring workers can maintain the buying power of their wages is part of that," Ms Wilkinson says.

The new minimum wage rate will come into effect on April 1, 2009.

Source: www.beehive.govt.nz

Minimum Wage (New Entrants) Amendment Act 2007

Minimum wage increase - Press release February 2009

That's $96 for an eight hour day, or $480 for a 40 hour week. From 1 April 2008, the training wage will rise to $9.60 an hour before tax. That's $76.80 for an eight hour day, and $384 for a 40 hour week.

The training wage applies to people doing recognised industry training involving at least 60 credits a year. From 1 April 2008, there will no longer be a minimum wage for youth. Instead there will be a new entrant's minimum wage. The new entrant's minimum wage will be $9.60 an hour before tax on 1 April, 2008. That's $76.80 for an eight hour day, and $384 for a 40 hour week.

The new entrants minimum wage will apply to some 16 and 17 year old workers. Click the link to find out if you will be a new entrant.  

If the minimum training rate applies to an employer's apprentices, the apprenticeship wage rates will not be affected by the Minimum Wage (New Entrants) Amendment Act 2007.

There is no statutory minimum wage for employees who are under 16 years old.

By law, employers must pay at least the minimum wage - even if an employee is paid by commission or by piece rate. The minimum wage applies to all workers aged 16 years or older, including home workers, casuals, temporary and part-time workers.

The only exception is when an employee holds an exemption permit. Holiday pay must be paid in addition to the minimum wage. If an employee receives "pay-as-you-go" holiday pay, this payment must be a separate and identifiable part of their pay.

An increase in the minimum wage will not affect an employee's other conditions of employment, unless they agree to the changes.

An employee being paid less than the minimum wage can complain to a Labour Inspector, who may investigate and act to recover any money owed. Employees can also get help from Department of Labour mediators.  

Source: Department of Labour.

The big 6

April 2010 - New employment relations and health and safety resource:

The Department of Labour has produced two new resources to assist businesses. The Big Six is a series of brochures that contain checklists and links to further information which businesses commonly seek: health and safety; hiring new employees; pay; holidays and leave; managing performance; and ending employment relationships. The Big Six is available to download from the Department’s website.  The Code of Employment Practice on Infant Feeding was developed to provide assistance to assist employers and employees on how to provide unpaid breaks (in addition to rest and meal breaks) and appropriate facilities for women who wish to breastfeed their babies during a work period.

Download the brief here. To find out more about the Big Six, visit www.dol.govt.nz/big6. To find about the code, visit Code of Employment Practice on Infant Feeding www.ers.dol.govt.nz/parentalleave/infantfeeding/code/

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