On 24 May 2021, the Holidays (Increasing Sick Leave) Amendment Act 2021 (“the Act”) received the Royal Assent. It comes into force on 24 July 2021. What does this mean? Effect of Holidays (Increasing Sick Leave) Amendment Act 2021 From 24 July 2021: The minimum entitlement to paid sick leave in New Zealand will increase…
Employers need to be aware of what changes are here and what lies ahead, particularly in relation to employees’ leave and the report of the Holidays Act Working Group. Holidays (Bereavement Leave for Miscarriage) Amendment Employees will now have the right to take up to three days’ paid bereavement leave if they or their partner…
NZ moves to alert level 3 at 11.59pm Monday 27th April, so we have outlined what this means in practical terms for businesses able to get back to work. What Level 3 means in simple terms: If your business can be conducted from home, you must continue to do this unless it is not possible. …
The Labour government came in with a long to-do list of changes to employment law. In this article co-authored by Shima Grice and Lucy Nolan we look at what has changed and what is still to come. 2019 The year 2019 brought with it a raft of employment law changes. These included: Minimum wage increased…
Several employment law changes came into effect on May 6. Individual employment agreements that are not in writing are now an infringement offence under the Employment Relations (Infringement Offences) Regulations 2019. Section 65(1)(a) of the Employment Relations Act 2000 already provides that an individual employment agreement must be in writing. At present an employer failing…
On 15 January this year Immigration New Zealand (INZ) raised the thresholds for Essential Skills work visa and Skilled Migrant residency visa applications. The increases are small, and result from changes in the median income levels in New Zealand. In September 2017, Statistics New Zealand announced that the average earnings from salaries and wages had…
The Global Impact Visa (“GIV Visa”) aims to attract highly talented, successful and well-connected entrepreneurs to establish their ventures in New Zealand. The key benefit of the GIV Visa is that it offers flexibility to attract innovative global entrepreneurs, investors and start up teams who are not covered under the existing investor and entrepreneur visa…
Immigration policy requires an applicant who is applying for New Zealand residence to demonstrate that they have met the acceptable standard of health requirements. If a person does not meet these standards, they must undergo a health and medical waiver assessment. Acceptable standard of health Immigration New Zealand provides for a two-tiered system to determine…
What is a character waiver? To qualify for a visa in New Zealand, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) requires the applicant to be of good character. One of the most common reasons that clients will seek a character waiver is a prior drunk driving conviction. If you are aged 17 or over, you are required to…
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) now has powers to apply stand down periods on employer incurs penalties relating to employment standards. These powers are there to protect migrant workers from exploitation. This group of employees enjoy the same legal protection as domestic workers but are more vulnerable due to the reliance on…