Procedural failures and unclear employment agreement led to a $27k trial period dispute - New Zealand construction company missteps in clarifying duties.
Do you have written employment contracts for all your employees? Are they meeting the minimum requirements?
Employers are being reminded of the $1,000 infringement fine they can face for failing to provide proper documentation to their employees.
Further changes to the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2018 took effect this May (2019), we are urging employers to ensure that all written employment contracts are being updated in line with latest changes.
Employment agreements and the law
The Employment Relations Act 2000 states that every employee must have a written employment agreement.
This agreement must include details such as the name of the employer, name of the employee, description of place of work, agreed hours, rates of pay / salary and a plain language explanation of the services available for the resolution of employment relationship problems, including a reference to the period of 90 days within which a personal grievance must be raised.
Penalties
Under the Act, individual employers or companies who fail to meet the requirements can be issued with an instant infringement notice carrying a $1,000 fine and further penalties up to $100,000.
EQ Consultants’ EA update service
Need to get your contracts updated in line with latest changes?
EQ Consultants is offering employers the opportunity to update employment agreement contracts to ensure they are legally compliant.
It is best practice to inform employees of their additional rights, how you do this will depend on the size of your organisation. All employers should update employee agreement going forward once the new legislation takes effect.
For further information about this service, please call Anita Dazzi on 021 289 1966 or email a.dazzi@eqconsultants.co.nz
This article is not intended as legal advice but is intended to alert you to current topics of interest.