Blog
[Employment NZ] Have Your Say On The NZ Income Insurance Scheme
[EMPLOYMENT NZ] HAVE YOUR SAY ON THE NEW ZEALAND INCOME INSURANCE SCHEME Every year, more than 100,000 New Zealanders are made redundant, laid off, or have to stop working because of a health condition or disability. Few protections are available for people who lose...
[Employment NZ] Taking Annual Holidays
[EMPLOYMENTNZ] TAKING ANNUAL HOLIDAYS In general, employees should be able to decide when to take their annual holidays. Annual holidays can be taken at any time agreed between the employer and the employee. Employees must be given the opportunity to take at least two...
Modifying Employment Agreements during COVID-19 Response and Recovery
[EMPLOYMENT NZ] MODIFYING EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENTS DURING COVID-19 RESPONSE AND RECOVERY Find out about options to deal with the impacts of COVID-19 in the workplace. Changes to the rate of pay Agreeing to a lower rate of pay for each hour that the employee works An...
COVID-19 and the Workplace
[EMPLOYMENT NZ] COVID-19 AND THE WORKPLACE Guidance for employees, employers, and businesses around COVID-19 and the workplace, including leave and pay entitlements, and modifying employment agreements. General guidance for workplaces Employers and employees need to...
Vaccines and the Workplace
Employers must provide paid time off for employees to get vaccinated Employees are now eligible for paid time off from work to receive their COVID-19 vaccination. Many employers are already doing this to encourage their workforce to be fully vaccinated. New Zealanders...
When Public Holidays fall on Saturday or Sunday
PUBLIC HOLIDAY FALLS ON SATURDAY How to work out pay and holiday entitlements for a calendar date public holiday falling on a Saturday. Examples: Christmas falls on Saturday – employee normally works Saturday Sarah has a part-time job at a service station. She...
Employment NZ – Cutting Back or Increasing Hours
[EMPLOYMENT NZ] CUTTING BACK OR INCREASING HOURS If an employment agreement has the employee's hours of work, then an employer can’t change them without the employee's agreement. If the employment agreement says that an employer can change the hours of work, the...
Employment NZ – Hours of Work
[EMPLOYMENT NZ] HOURS OF WORK An employee’s hours of work must be agreed to by the employer and employee in a written employment agreement. Any agreed hours of work or an indication of the arrangements relating to the times the employee is to work must be in the...
COVID-19 Vaccination Status and Privacy Rights
[PRIVACY COMMISSIONER] THE COVID-19 VACCINATION AND PRIVACY RIGHTS A person’s vaccination status is personal information and so falls under the protections laid out in the Privacy Act 2020. However, as we have outlined previously, there are limited situations where an...
Public Holidays upon Termination
[EMPLOYMENTNZ] PUBLIC HOLIDAYS PAID ON TERMINATION There is a rule that means employees are sometimes entitled to be paid for public holidays that fall after their employment has ended (ie after their termination date). This can happen if the employee has unused...