Call It What You Want
Defining and understanding what relationship you have with a worker is important as each relationship brings different rights and responsibilities for the parties.
A Dunedin taxi company has been ordered to pay nearly $100,000 in wage arrears after the Employment Relations Authority (“the ERA”) found it had been wrongly treating four of its former drivers as independent contractors (rather than employees) in an attempt to save money.
The Dough-Throwing Baker
We frequently remind employers carrying out disciplinary investigations about “process, process, process”. Even where an employer believes they have good reasons to dismiss an employee, a fair and proper process must be followed.
The Employment Relations Authority (“the ERA”) often find an employer’s reason for a dismissal was justified, but the process was flawed, resulting in a unjustifiable dismissal.
Recently, however, an Auckland Bakery were found to have followed a proper process but failed to prove they had good reason to dismiss an employee.
Fatigue in the Workplace
A recent sentencing in the District Court comes after the death of a tractor driver in the North Island back in October 2016. At the time the worker died, he had just clocked a nearly 17 hour day harvesting on farm. At 2.45am on his way home he crashed the tractor and did not survive. In the fortnight leading up to the accident the worker had done nearly 200 hours.
Businesses must pay employees for pre-work meetings
There have been numerous headlines in the media lately regarding big businesses failing to pay their staff for attending pre work meetings.
The catalyst for this has been the recent NZ Employment Court decision where they ruled Smiths City Group must pay their employees for attending their pre work meetings.
Employer role increasing in Visa applications
The days where employers could leave it up to their migrant workers to obtain the appropriate visa from Immigration New Zealand (“INZ”) have ended. Consequences for employers who get it wrong includes losing the ability to hire migrant workers altogether. Below are some common issues we see.
