New Employee Forms Available

29 April 2019

The form has just been released by MBIE and can be found here.  

MBIE's guidance for employers can be found here.

Some helpful tips from us:

• If there is no collective agreement covering the new employee's role, you do not have to provide the employee with this form, or concern yourself with any of the processes involved.
• But if the new employee's role falls within the coverage of a collective agreement, you must give the employee a copy of the form, unless the employee has already joined the union. 
• The form must be given within 10 days of the employee starting work.
• The form can be given in hard copy or digital format (and is able to be filled in electronically).
• The employee should return the form within 30 days of starting work.

        Then:

• If the employee states they do not intend to join a union; and has ticked the box objecting to your passing on any information to a union, proceed no further.
• If the employee states they intend to join a particular union, you need to provide the completed form to that union.  This must be done within 10 days after the date the employee is required to return the form (ie within 40 days of the employee starting work).  You must also provide the form to any other applicable unions, unless the employee has ticked the box objecting to their information being passed on to other unions.
• If the employee does not complete the form within 30 days, you must give the union(s) the name of the employee and advise that the employee did not complete the form.
• Penalties of $10,000 for an individual or $20,000 for a company may be imposed for failing to provide the form to a new employee.