I notice that in Parliament there was extensive discussion about whether employers do in fact have to give a reason for dismissal because of the over – riding obligation to act in good faith. This is the first time I have heard the suggestion and I will keep an eye on developments and advise readers if a court case establishes this.
My advice to employees is to think twice before you leave a permanent job to go to another one on a probationary period – if things don’t work out you may end up with no job at all.
The National Party has said in their press releases that this extended policy puts New Zealand in line with similar policies in Australia and Britain. I checked and Britain has a 12 month probationary period and Australia, like us, has a 3 month probationary period.
The raison d’être behind the change is said to be to give more prospective employees a shot at work and giving employers the confidence to hire. Opponents fear that it would lead to a number of employers choosing to employ employees for 89 days and then terminating their employment.
The Labour party has indicated that they will repeal the legislation when they become government again.
Figures released by the Labour Department indicate the about 40% of employers who have already used the 90 day trial period provisions would not have hired or were unlikely to have hired a person without a trial period.
The Holidays Act will now be easier to apply with a change signalled to how a “day’s pay” will be calculated. It seems the new calculation will be based on the employee’s pay over the previous year. This is designed to make it easier and fairer, particularly for those on variable hours and pay.
Employers and employees will be able to agree to transfer the observance of public holidays to another working day. Great for when a public holiday falls on a Thursday and the holiday can simply be transferred to the Friday for a long weekend.
Employers will also be able to insist on employees providing proof of sickness or injury for periods of fewer than 3 days. Employers are currently entitled to require proof of sickness only if the employee takes 3 or more days of sick leave consecutively. Currently an employer can require proof of sickness or injury within 3 days only in if they have reasonable grounds to suspect the sick leave being taken is not genuine
The Government also proposes to allow employees to trade one of their four weeks’ annual leave for cash. This will only be at the employee's request.
