Employment Relations Act 2000

Kaimai_Law_Bethlehem_Commercial_eSpeaking_Summer_13.pdf

Further changes ahead for the Employment Relations Act 2000
Looking at the year ahead, we’re likely to see further reforms to the Employment Relations Act 2000, with the proposed changes anticipated to come into effect in the second half of the year.

One area of the proposed reforms aims to further clarify Part 6A of the Act, which deals with ‘vulnerable workers’ whose work is affected by restructuring. The proposed changes include:
»» Exempting incoming employers with fewer than 20 employees from complying with Part 6A
»» Requiring outgoing employers to forward individual employee information to the incoming employer
»» Detailing a process to help outgoing and incoming employers to agree how to apportion accrued
service-related entitlements of employees, and
»» Adding additional penalties and compliance orders for non-compliance with Part 6A.

Amendments to the collective bargaining regime are also expected, including changes to:
»» Empower the Employment Relations Authority to declare the end of collective bargaining in certain circumstances
»» Allow employers to opt-out of multi-employer bargaining
»» Allow partial pay reductions in cases of partial strike action, and
»» Remove the requirement for non-union members to be employed under the terms and conditions of a collective agreement (where one is in force which covers their work) for the first 30 days of employment.

Other changes include amending the duty of good faith in section 4 to align it more closely with the privacy principles in the Privacy Act 1983, and extending the right to request flexible working arrangements to all employees, from their first day of employment.

More details on the proposed changes can be found at www.dol.govt.nz