New Zealand
Newsletter February, 2024Newsletter January, 2024January, 2024
- On 21 December 2023, the Employment Relations (Trial Periods) Amendment Bill was passed in Parliament.
- It was introduced as a Member’s Bill in August 2023 in the previous Parliament.
- It provides that, with effect from 23 December 2023, all employers in New Zealand can use 90-day trial periods, extending its scope of application.
November, 2022
- New Zealand has recently introduced the new Fair Pay Agreements Act (‘FPAA’), legislation that establishes a new bargaining framework in New Zealand.
- Last October, Parliament passed the Bill, which received the Royal assent on 1 November 2022 with effect on 1 December.
October, 2022
- On 22 September 2022, Labour MP Helen White introduced the Employment Relations (Restraint of Trade) Amendment Bill (Bill) to Parliament.
- It seeks to amend the Employment Relations Act 2000 to include a restraint of trade provision that will “prohibit the use of restraints of trade in employment agreements for lower and middle-income employees”.
- The Bill will also require employers of higher income employees to carefully consider whether a restraint of trade is appropriate to those employees and, if they insist on a restraint of trade, to compensate the employees for it.
June, 2022
- The Protected Disclosures (Protection of Whistleblowers) Bill, introduced into Parliament in 2020, received royal assent on 13 May 2022 and will repeal and replace the Protected Disclosures Act 2000 (PDA) on 1 July 2022.
- It enables a person, from any organisation or business, to make a protected disclosure direct to an appropriate authority at any time, instead of needing to disclose to their employer first. It also extends and clarifies the grounds where protected disclosures can be made.
May, 2022
- Randstad published the Workmonitor 2022, the first full survey of 2022 that addresses issues such as job flexibility, work life balance, personal and professional growth and corporate social responsibilities (CSR) in the context of the recovery from the pandemic.
- The survey was conducted between 21 February and 13 March 2022 in more than 30 countries worldwide.
January, 2022
- Business NZ has formally rejected the offer to be the Government’s nominated default partner in implementing compulsory national pay agreements known as Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs).
- A default partner would be required to represent employers who would be covered by FPAs if no other representative industry organisation was available or willing to represent employers.