Yesterday the Government announced its first major raft of changes to New Zealand’s employment legislation. For the most part these simply reverse changes made under the previous Government and, according to Minister for Workplace Relations Iain Lees-Galloway, are intended to be a “restoration of fairness in the workplace” and to undo the “steady erosion of rights” in employment law.
The changes did not include any real surprises and included, as expected, restricting the use of 90 day trial periods to employers employing under 20 employees and the restoration of the specifics around statutory rest and meal breaks.
The Bill is to be introduced to Parliament on Monday 29 January with a proposed first reading expected on Thursday 1 February. A summary of the Bill issued by the Government sets out the following changes:
- restoration of specified rest and meal breaks;
- restriction of 90 day trial periods to SME employers (less than 20 employees);
- reinstatement to be restored as the primary remedy for an unjustified dismissal;
For a more detailed summary click here.
The above changes are in Bill form only and will not come into effect until passed into legislation later in the year. There will be an opportunity for public submissions before this occurs and the Restaurant Association will make a submission on behalf of members.
The Government’s announcement also confirmed that fair pay agreements are still on its agenda for 2018. We can expect more details regarding this and other proposed changes in due course.