First Home Buyers
GOING, GOING, SOLD!…. Are you a first home buyer and not sure where to start? Or have you found the perfect home but are overwhelmed with how to proceed?
Don’t panic, purchasing property doesn’t have to be stressful. There are some steps you can take to help with the purchase process.
Casual Employees and the Holidays Act
We often get queries from Employers about this topic. If you don’t get this right, you could end up paying holiday pay twice.
Winter heating - keep warm safely
Do you rely on a fireplace or multi burner for heating in the winter or are you looking at purchasing a property with one? If your answer is yes, there are fuel and heating regulations you need to be aware of.
Probationary Periods in Employment Agreements - Should Employers Use Them?
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.
Availability Provisions in Employment Agreements
The 2016 amendments to the Employment Relations Act 2000 introduced rules around when and how an availability provision can be included in an employment agreement. However there has been uncertainty as to how broadly the rules could be applied. The case of Fraser v McDonald’s Restaurants (NZ) Limited [2017] was the first landmark case to assess whether availability provision rules were engaged or infringed. Since then there has been debate over whether these rules apply to just ‘zero hours’ workers and or whether they apply to all employees.
