It is a tough job being a cop, it may be even a harder job being a top cop, but it seems impossible to be the top cop and a woman in New Zealand. For a short period of time a woman filled the top job...

How important is the safety of workers and customers to us as the risk of theft and violence appears to escalate in the retail sector? The sometimes conflicting obligations owed by employers under Pri...

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and the Government formally apologised to the survivors of abuse in care yesterday after the Royal Commission released its report into abuse in state care in...

Employer’s are quite good at identifying issues in the workplace by instinct – does it meet the “sniff test”; does something smell “fishy”? Recent revelations suggest that some government policies and...

Interviews for employment are problematic. The employee wants to impress; often the employer wants to impress too. All too often the hard questions are not asked. There is a chance for the employer to...

The usual line taken by government Ministers is that they do not get involved in operational matters. But the latest meddling in operational issues is playing out around the pros and cons of working f...

The Fair Work Commissions in Australia has recently ordered Virgin Australia to reinstate an aircrew employee after he had been dismissed earlier this year after being accused of being on duty in brea...

Changes to employment law in Australia came into effect last week that would enable the Fair Work Commission to provide platform or gig economy drivers, food delivery riders and parcel couriers with m...

Human Resources Magazine EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS  David Burton Flexibility at work comes with risk? While we await the Court of Appeal’s ruling on the recent Uber cases, David Burton, an employme...

It all seems rather “Trumpian” in New Zealand politics at present. Do we need to do a factcheck before even contemplating the accuracy of statements being made by Ministers? Recently, the Prime Minis...

A decision of the Employment Court in late July is the latest decision that confirms that the cost of unjustifiably dismissing an employee is getting higher. It follows a decision of the Employment Co...

Bringing up children takes work, often a lot of work. “It takes a village to raise a child” is an African proverb that means an entire community of people must interact with childr...

Whistleblowing is an action taken by a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organisation that is conisdered illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or f...

In an extraordinary move, the nine councillors of the South Wairarapa District Council took out full page adverts in their local newspapers reassuring the community that they are continuing with the w...

In the United States the Federal Trade Commission has voted to ban employers getting their employees to sign agreements with non-compete clauses (often also called restraint of trade clauses). The Com...

The UK Labour Party has proposed sweeping overhauls of workers’ rights, including maternity and sick pay, day-one protection against unfair dismissal, bans on zero-hours contracts, fair pay agreements...

Leadership, particular in the public arena, comes with certain expectations of supporting values and leading by example. It is a concern when our senior leaders, both in governance and management, fai...

Tony Gibson is the former Chief Executive of the Port of Auckland and is currently on trial in the first prosecution of its kind over the death of Pala'amo Kalati who was killed in 2020 when a contain...

All too often there are reports of migrant exploitation, usually in relation to minimum employment entitlements, but there still remain workplaces in New Zealand where workers suffer other unlawful ab...

"Justice delayed is justice denied" is a legal and societal saying. It means that if legal redress to an injured party is available but it takes too long to achieve it, it is effec...

Published Human Resources Magazine Autumn 2024 Successful businesses tend to be agile and adapt to changing circumstances. Finding the right solution for the employer is as important as managing the ...

Peter Boshier has been the most recent Chief Ombudsman for New Zealand. His appointment in December 2015 followed a distinguished career as a Judge. In May 2020 he was reappointed for a seco...

The Prime Minister’s flip-flop on whether he will continue to claim a $52,000 accommodation allowance for living in the Wellington apartment he owns is important. Parliament has enacted a safety...

While it is early days for New Zealand’s new coalition government, the cost of living crisis is still hurting a lot of working New Zealanders. The National Party campaigned on tackling the crisis. “O...

The Ports of Auckland (POAL) has often been in the news for the number of accidents that have occurred at the Port. Late last year POAL was fined more than half a million dollars after pleading guilt...

How are we once again at this point where there is another u-turn on a big infrastructure project? Surely there must be accountability on these big projects? Before these projects get approval, there ...

Employers and employees commonly enter into employment agreements that will take effect when the employee commences work at some later date. Once the agreement is made that person is intending to work...

The recently appointed Chief Executive, Janice Smith, of the South Wairarapa District Council might well be wondering if she has made the right decision in accepting her appointment. SWDC mayor, Mart...

Last weekend the Wairarapa Garden Tour was again held as a major fundraiser for the Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre, allowing the centre to continue its conservation work in its 94...

New Zealand awaits the election outcome following the counting of special votes and the impact this may have on the formation of our new coalition government. For years, tikanga Māori has increasingl...

The election campaign is in its final week. The campaign has heated up, and so has the rhetoric. A recent decision of the Employment Court makes it clear that employees should be cautious about using ...

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The recent Employment Court decision involving Melville High School makes harrowing reading due to the factual circumstances established by the plaintiff’s, Kathleen and Ronald Cronin-Lampe. It also t...

Published - HR Magazine Spring edition 2023 As technology continues to evolve to assist us with our businesses, HR professionals also have to consider the impact of technology and how this may affect...

Prior to Covid-19 New Zealand workers had comparatively less paid sick leave than most of the developed world. When the Labour government introduced a bill into Parliament to increase the minimum sick...

The Interislander ferry Kaitaki is again in the news after ferry passengers were forced to spend the night on board in Wellington harbour after the ferry developed issues with its steering just outsid...

The report released earlier in July by Te Ara Ahunga Ora Retirement Commission is showing that the gender gap in retirement savings is going in the wrong direction in New Zealand. It highlights that t...

There is no doubt that the six former Gloriavale women who sued their former religious community worked extremely hard under punishing conditions for years on end. The women left Gloriavale and made ...

Controversy over Cabinet Minister Kiri Allan’s conduct with staff in her office continues. Staff in her office will usually be employed by Ministerial Services to provide operational support and advi...

It is well known that the Department of Corrections has a big shortage of staff. According to figures provided by Corrections last month 76 of the 1438 community corrections jobs are vacant and 415 of...

Strikes on the grounds of health and safety are rare and litigation to declare them unlawful is even rarer. On 9 May 2023 the New Zealand Nurses Organisation gave notice of a one hour strike at Gisbo...

In October last year Ben Bell was elected to be Mayor of Gore District Council by 8 votes. He is New Zealand’s youngest mayor ever. In this rural and largely conservative district Bell positioned hims...

Rimutaka Prison is in the news again with it being reported that nine prison staff still remain on paid special leave a year after investigations were commenced for allegations of misconduct. One staf...

Kellie-Jay Keen (also known as Posie Parker) was pelted with tomato sauce in Auckland and left the country.  Just weeks later she has appeared in Belfast in Northern Ireland at a Let Women Speak ...

Business leaders, HR professionals and recruitment consultants are going to have to get their heads around ChatGPT and other Artificial Intelligence (AI) equivalents when it comes to recruitment. Bus...

Businesses do not tend to thrive through financial downturns, or even worse, recessions. Hard decisions need to be made; efficiencies need to be found, changes or redundancies may be required. Often ...

Public servants have been waiting some time to see some movement in the so-called “pay restraint” imposed on Government agencies following the Covid-19 epidemic. It has been anticipated that the Publi...

The Public Services Commissioner has written to the Chairs and Chief Executives of the public service reminding them of their obligations to be impartial and that they and their entities are subject t...

While six former ex-Gloriavale women are engaged in a lengthy litigation case in the Employment Court arguing that they were employees and not volunteers a group of dancers are picketing outside Welli...

Oranga Tamariki does not receive much positive media coverage. The latest report from the Independent Children's Monitor, Aroturuki Tamariki, says that Oranga Tamariki is still not meeting minimum sta...

Recently in France, more than one million people joined a day of protests and strikes against plans to push back the age of retirement from 62 to 64. President Macron called the reforms "just and resp...

HR professionals are used to assisting managers to raise issues with employees. The conventional approach is to follow a number of steps set out in the Employment Relations Act; sufficiently investiga...

The old adage that “justice moves slowly” is particularly true at present in New Zealand. Court staff have been taking a form of industrial action by working to rule for over a month as they bargain ...

Power companies are more often in the media as a result of their profits and the high cost of electricity. A “shout out” to Contact Energy for recently introducing a parental leave policy that helps s...

The giant social media companies are again in the media. The social damage that is often the focus of media reports for them is instead another type of social damage; it is focussed on reports of larg...

The Chief Judge of the Employment Court issued a judgment last week which should send a strong seismic-like wave through the Uber companies and their like, taxi companies, probably the transport indus...

Auckland has a new Mayor – Wayne Brown. The Mayor campaigned on a platform of change. On the campaign trail Mr Brown promised to take back control of the Council-Controlled Organisations (CCOs) and c...

Cases of being able to successfully justify a dismissal for reasons of incompatibility between employees are rare. How does the employer resolve the situation where an employee has a serious breakdow...

A recent series of racist attacks on election campaign billboards of Asian candidates in Auckland show that race still remains an issue for a very small minority of our society.  Those faceless, ...

Strikes and lockouts are largely an action of last resort in collective bargaining in New Zealand. When they do happen, they often gain the attention of the public and the media because of the disrupt...

Published in Human Resources - Spring 2022 Under the Health and Safety at Work Act, employers have a duty to eliminate risks to health and safety, so far as is reasonably practicable. Alternatively...

Here’s a hypothetical case for an employer to grapple with. Before commencing employment the employee has disclosed the most serious incident the employee was involved in as a youth to the “interviewi...

Our athletes and sportspeople have been doing us proud in Birmingham. Our attention is drawn to male and female events alike with no disparity. If a medal is achieved, our nation basks in their s...

Managing health and safety at work is everyone’s responsibility. People often get hurt because nobody has thought about how the work might be dangerous. Sometimes people are harmed because t...

Don’t sack someone because they are pregnant. It should be obvious, but some employers still seem to ignore such basic rules, to their significant financial peril. Eventually. Pregnant workers i...

Restructures and potential impact on mental health .... This recent ACC case may provide further redress for employees:    While restructures in our workplaces are often categorised b...

The case of Takamore v Clarke is not well known in employment law circles. But, this Supreme Court decision has laid the foundation for greater implementation of tikangaMāori in New Zealand’...

We have been learning daily about the development of successful vaccines to prevent coronavirus. What are the obligations of employers when the vaccine arrives? The United States, Australia, as well...

What a year it has been! Employers and employees have been taken into new territory. While it is generally considered that New Zealand has had an excellent health response to Covid-19, businesses have...

Empty office space in Wellington buildings suggests that many workers are still working from home, and to a lesser extent that some will have lost their jobs. What are the additional health risk...

Industrial negotiations in Australia seem to be tough, rough and lengthy. Perhaps they give us a taste of things to come in New Zealand over the next two or three years. Unions will want to make th...

The recent controversy surrounding the isolated Christian community of Gloriavale has sparked a number of investigations regarding concerns of exploitation, unsafe working practices and oppression. It...

Most people will have been either accused of being a bully, have been bullied or almost certainly know people who have struggled with bullying situations. It is an area that New Zealand is still grapp...

Everyone will be familiar with the denial that you are developing a cold. Maybe your nose is just a little runny, or there is a slight tickle in your throat. We can convince ourselves that maybe if we...

Requests for personal information covered by the Privacy Act are commonplace in employment disputes. The updated Privacy Act is coming into force on 1 December 2020. Now is the time to consider the c...

Readers may have watched the extraordinary spectacle of the Trump-Biden debate and the more civilised and issues-focused debates between Jacinda Ardern and Judith Collins. United States President Don...

Like all relationships, entering into an employment relationship can be messy and expensive. Tempers can flare, parties can say things they may not mean, and in a short space of time, it can all be ov...

We remain in uncertain times. The end of the wage subsidy is looming, and the ever-present concern of a Covid-19 flareup continues to hang over many employers’ heads.   In these circumstances we...

Pulling a sickie isn’t a new phenomenon. But it can create a whole host of additional issues in a post Covid-19 world. In the midst of New Zealand’s “second wave” of Covid-19, the media recently repo...

New Zealand reacted hard and fast by locking its population down when Covid-19 emerged in this country. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has proved to be an empathetic leader who provided people with rea...

In less than two months, New Zealanders will vote in a referendum to decide if recreational cannabis should be legal. ...

The general election is now only weeks away. This year we have seen probably more instability than usual with a number of MPs leaving Parliament. At the same time many personal accusations have been m...

How many times do you interact with your smartphone every day? If you are typical it is likely your estimate will be far less than the reality. Check it out for a day or even an hour. Today's smartpho...

We are living in difficult economic times. Many of us are benefiting from the Government's wage subsidy and support packages but these will not last forever. By the end of the year subsidies may be li...

There has been a lot of media coverage recently regarding tragic workplace fatalities in New Zealand. This year alone WorkSafe reported 25 work-related deaths. In the wake of these deaths there have b...

The way we experience our country depends in large part on our background and our identity. The opportunities afforded to us, and the rewards we receive, vary accordingly. The way the world appea...

For many the working arrangements put in place during the higher Covid-19 alert levels may have prompted longer term changes to how they work. ...

We are approaching the mid-point of 2020. While a lot has happened over the last few months, and much has changed, the Employment Relations Authority and Employment Court has continued to function and...

Community support for law is strongest when the laws are enacted following an accepted process and when they apply equally to everybody. ...

The looming economic recession triggered by the coronavirus pandemic is going to lead to significant unemployment. ...

Over the last six weeks, more New Zealanders than ever have been working from home in a cultural shift that has been seen all over the world. Time Magazine called the COVID-19 outbreak "the ...

We have all endured the boredom of lockdown and are pushing through the slightly less restricted level three. ...

For most people living in New Zealand, and perhaps the world, the last couple of months have changed lives in ways that would have been inconceivable only a short time ago. ...

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Many New Zealanders will be waking up of Christmas morning with plans to spend time with family, friends or just enjoying the New Zealand summer. Others will be getting ready for work in roles where t...

It is a general expectation of the employment relationship that an employee follows the rules set by their employer. Typically, failure to follow such rules can amount to misconduct or serious miscond...

A recent WorkSafe prosecution demonstrated the extent of the health and safety obligations in respect of company vehicles. ...

Recent years have seen a significant increase in the health and safety obligations of employers. ...

The passing of the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2018 ushered in a range of employment law changes. The change with perhaps the lowest profile was the re-establishment of reinstatement as a prima...

On Monday 1 April 2019, the Domestic Violence - Victim Protection Act 2018 came into effect. The Act provides legal protections in the workplace for people affected by domestic violence. ...

Over the last couple of years, organisations' reliance on Payroll systems has left them with widespread underpayment of their employees and significant legal claims. ...

Trial periods and the ability for employers to dismiss employees 'at will' have been discussed by politicians and the media often in recent years. Trial periods are a tool that allows employees to dem...

Who is responsible for the health and safety of staff working from home? This is a question many businesses may not have turned their minds to. As working arrangements become more varied and flexible ...

The Employment Relations Amendment Bill passed its third reading on 5 December, meaning changes to employment law are coming. Some amendments will come into force as soon as the Governor-General gives...

In recent months the Employment Court has decided several cases on what it means to be ‘working’. The court’s decisions may surprise many employers’ and challenge understandings of when employees are ...

Unprecedentedly high compensation awards have been made in the employment jurisdiction in recent months. Not only are greater amounts are being awarded, an entirely new approach of awarding compensati...

It is important for employees to have the opportunity for rest and recreation and it’s important to employers that they don’t have to pay for that rest twice! Employers have the responsibility to ensu...

Labour’s election campaign featured numerous promises to tilt employment standards back in favour of employees. The Labour government introduced has now a Bill to amend the Employment Relations Act an...

We are now in the lead up to Christmas, an important day for all to spend time with loved ones and celebrate the passing of another year. In 2017 Christmas will touch readers in different ways. The hi...

September 23 has been circled on calendars for months, and now the 2017 General Election is just days away. Political parties have released their policies and the election frenzy is ever-intensifying....

The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) has issued a new set of rules for on-course apparel which have received considerable backlash from golfers and fans alike. The new rules forbid female g...

  When allegations such as sexual harassment, bullying, or theft are made against an employee the employer must investigate the allegations before finding misconduct. There is a common misconcep...

2016 saw legislative changes introduced to give greater protection to important minimum employment standards. The change of approach from a ‘slap on the wrist’ to hefty penalties is evident through th...

The number of fraud stories being reported by the media at present must have employers wondering how they can prevent this happening to them. One of the best methods of doing so it to undertake thorou...

2016 has been an eventful year and now it’s all but gone. To help you stay on top of developments and prepare you for a successful 2017 we’ve identified the most notable changes in employment law that...

Inappropriate behaviour in the workplace is an inherently sensitive subject and has the ability to profoundly affect a business’ reputation. As such it is important for employers to know how to deal w...

Nearly all employers must deal with sensitive employees at one time or another and it is important that they know how to approach such situations. ...

The story of a nurse who lied in order to gain employment in a major New Zealand hospital has come to light in recent months. Her application was riddled with lies including false referees, claiming s...

New Health and Safety legislation has prompted Sir Peter Jackson to resign as a director of Weta Workshop. The design studio founded in 1987 and made famous by the Lord of the Rings trilogy has won fi...

The summer months at the start of the year are invariably when each of us thinks about getting fit and losing weight. We make resolutions, we dream, we plan. Some even follow through by pounding the p...