The Employment Relations Amendment Act 2018 introduced a number of
employment law changes that aim to improve fairness in the workplace and
deliver decent work conditions and fair wages.
The Act gives more protections for employees, especially
vulnerable workers, and strengthens collective bargaining and union rights in
the workplace. Many of the changes are familiar to employers, as they roll the
law back to how it was as recently as 2015.
Set rest and meal breaks
Employees must be given set rest and meal breaks based
on the number of hours worked, to help them work safely and productively.
Employers must pay for minimum rest breaks but don’t have to pay for minimum
meal breaks. Employers and employees can agree when the breaks can be taken. If
they cannot agree, the law will require the breaks to be taken at set times, so
long as it’s reasonable and practicable to do so. Some limited exemptions may
apply for some workers in specified essential services or national security
services.
Trial periods
90-day
trial periods are restricted to businesses with 19 or fewer employees, to
restore protections from unjustified dismissal for most employees when they
start a new job.
Businesses
with 20 or more employees can continue to use probationary periods to
assess an employee’s skills against the role’s responsibilities. A probationary
period lays out a fair process for managing performance issues and ending
employment if the issues aren’t resolved.
Reinstatement for unfairly dismissed employees
If
requested, reinstatement must be the first course of action considered by the Employment Relations
Authority) for
employees who have found to be unfairly dismissed. Reinstatement means the
employee gets their previous job back.
The Employment Relations Authority will still assess
whether reinstatement is practicable and reasonable for both parties.
Vulnerable industry employees
Employees
in the specified vulnerable industries such
as cleaning and catering services will be able to transfer their current
contract terms and conditions, regardless of the size of their employer.
Changes also include a longer notice period for employees to choose to transfer
to the new employer.
New categories of employees may apply to receive the
protections under the specified ‘vulnerable workers’.
Changes for collective bargaining, collective agreement and
unions
For full detailed understanding of the changes to Bargaining
please visit www.Employment.govt.nz
or www.mbie.govt.nz
M Judd Consulting 