Employment Law

From 6 May 2019, only an employer with 19 or fewer employees (at the beginning of the day on which the employment agreement is entered into) may employ a new employee on a trial period for the first 90 calendar days of their employment.

The Employment Relations Amendment Bill (No 2) 2010 and Holidays Amendment Bill 2010 were passed in Parliament on 20 November 2010.  This in effect means that the following key changes apply from 1 April 2011 to the Employment Relations Act 2000 (ERA) and the Holidays Act 2003:

• reinstatement will no longer be a ("primary") remedy;
• rules on union access to workplaces has changed so that any access will require consent of any employer, which consent cannot be unreasonably withheld;
• with the employer and the employee's agreement, employees will be able to trade one of their four weeks' annual leave for cash;
• employers and employees will also be able to agree to transfer the observance of public holidays to another working day;
• a new formula of "Average Daily Pay" will be used to calculate leave entitlements;
• employers will not need to have reasonable grounds to suspect that sick leave taken by employees for three consecutive days or more, for non-genuine reasons, to ask for medical reports.  However, employers will be required to cover the employees' costs in obtaining the reports.

If you need assistance with any employment issues, please contact DG Law on 09 574 5316