A recent determination of the Employment Relations Authority highlights the need for employers to comply with statutory minimum record keeping requirements.
NZ Mountain Hunting Limited (NZMH) is a big game hunting safari business near Omarama. It has been in business since 1995 and employed hundreds of employees over its annual hunting seasons which start in February and finish in August each year.
Now that employers with 20 or more employees do not have the ability to dismiss those employees who are ‘not working out’ under the 90 day trial period clause, they need to decide whether they should implement the less powerful but more labour intensive probationary periods in their employment agreements.
An employer may require a newly hired employee to serve a period of probation to give the employer an opportunity to evaluate the employee’s performance before confirming the appointment.
Many recent and upcoming key changes to the Employment Relations Act 2000 (the ‘Act’) are aimed at strengthening union and collective bargaining rights. They also increase awareness and protection for new employees, particularly where their new role is covered by a collective agreement (CEA).
By Laura Harry, Senior Solicitor. 
There are over 300 different euphemisms for “flatulence” – break wind, pass gas, cut one, cut the cheese, bum sneezes, silent but violent, drop a bomb, drop your guts, crack one off, let one rip and of course, plain old farting. It knows no borders, everyone around the world does it and having dogs’ means they’re invariably always to blame. Whilst it’s even the topic of the world’s oldest joke dating from 1900 BC, roll forward to the 21st century where in the workplace, flatulence is often no joking matter and can instead be a source of a personal grievance and bullying.
A recent landmark Employment Court decision confirmed the Employment Relations Authority (“ERA”) can exercise its discretion to fix the provisions of a collective agreement. The fixing of a collective agreement by the ERA is unprecedented and a first for New Zealand. The Court’s decision released this week was “one of the rare sort” which required a “game-breaker”. The effect of such a determination to fix a collective agreement means that ratification, and signing by the parties, is not required.