Employment Law – Addressing The Gender Pay Gap
How do you address the gender pay gap? This is the question the Joint Working Group on Pay Equity Principles (the JWG) had to answer when it was established by…
Employers – Are Your Staff Without Written Agreements?
Despite legal requirements that all employees have a written employment agreement, thousands of New Zealand employees are still working without one, a recent survey by Statistics New Zealand has showed.…
Employers: Take The Time Now To Make Sure You Calculate Holiday Pay Correctly!
Does your business pay overtime, bonuses or commissions to employees? If the answer is yes, then read on to ensure your employee’s don’t have a claim for more holiday pay.…
Directors, Chief Executives And Managers – Health And Safety Is Your Responsibility
On 4 April 2016 the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 comes into force. This means that you only have a couple of weeks to ensure that your business…
Minimum Wage Increases 1 April 2016
The minimum wage is set to increase on 1 April 2016. The order increases the minimum rates of pay for adult workers, starting-out workers, and trainees. The new minimum hourly rates of pay are as follows: $15.25 per hour for adult workers (increased from $14.75 per hour); and $12.20 per hour for starting-out workers and…
New Employment Standards Bill Introduced
On 13 August the Government introduced the Employment Standards Legislation Bill. In summary it: provides for stronger and more effective enforcement of employment standards such as the minimum wage and holidays entitlements; and extends parental leave and payments to more workers and increases the flexibility of the parental leave scheme; prohibits certain practices in employment…
Do’s And Don’ts Of Dealing With Sickly Staff
A recent TVNZ story has highlighted the fact that some employers have begun encouraging staff not to take sick leave by giving them an end of year bonus. What it didn’t discuss is how to deal with employees who continue to come to work, despite being clearly unwell. Those employees often have genuine reasons for continuing to…
Five Key Changes To The Health And Safety Reform Bill
We now have some certainty about the future of health and safety law in New Zealand: on Friday the Transport and Industrial Select Committee finally reported back on the Bill. Five of the key changes to the Bill (some of which had been well-rehearsed in the media) include: Employers must still engage with employees and…
Employment Law Standards Bill To Be Introduced To Parliament
An Employment Standards Bill will be introduced to Parliament later in 2015 with measures to prevent unfair employment practices. To read the full statement from Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Woodhouse, click here.
Fair Pay For A Day’s Work?
Ever wondered how much the person delivering those pamphlets to your letterbox gets paid? Labour’s David Parker says not enough: his member’s bill, which would ensure that they are paid at least minimum wage, was drawn from the ballot last week. Currently, people such as couriers, paper and pamphlet deliverers can be paid less than…