Post Election Update 2023
18 October 2023The General Election looks likely to deliver a National-led Government, but that will depend on the outcome of special votes, which will not be known until 3 November, and the progress of coalition negotiations.
What this means for employment terms and conditions remains to be seen, but both National and Act have made promises on the below:
Restore 90-day trial periods for all businesses
Currently only businesses that employ fewer than 20 employees can include a trial period clause in employment agreements for new employees.
Even if the right for 90-day trial periods is restored for all businesses, there remain many hurdles to satisfy to make the trial lawful – such as the employee signing the agreement before starting work, the employer conducting regular performance discussions so termination does not come as a surprise to the employee, providing assistance and training to help the performance improve, giving proper notice and so on.
Even though an employee is not able to bring a personal grievance for unjustified dismissal, they can still bring a personal grievance claim for unjustified disadvantage and generally come up with reasons to test the process. So not a silver bullet, but much better than nothing.
Repeal Fair Pay Agreements Act
Currently there are six union applications to initiate a fair pay agreement (FPA) that have been approved by MBIE. These cover Buses, Grocery & Supermarket, Security Guards & Officers, Early Childhood Education, Hospitality and Commercial Cleaners.
The bargaining sides have formed and the dates for settling an inter-party side agreement have passed, without any side agreement being settled in most cases. The processes required by the Act have proved to be much more complex than the architects of the legislation probably envisaged.
The inter-party side agreement discussions have broken down in most cases because of an inability to agree on how major decisions will be made on the employer bargaining side – in other words who gets the most influence over the direction of the process.
The process is costly and understandably the employer parties are not keen on incurring costs if an incoming Government is going to repeal the legislation.
Both National and Act, and probably NZ First, have committed to repeal the Act within the first 100 days. Quite what that means remains to be seen. At best it’s unlikely to occur before December. Then it’s a question of what repealing the Act means, and what will happen to those processes already on foot.
In repealing the Act, (in the absence of any transitional provisions) those processes already underway would be halted, regardless of what stage they are at.
In the meantime, there is an obligation on the employers concerned to follow the current law and recent experience shows that is exactly what MBIE is doing.
For more information: Tony Teesdale – 021 920 323, Justine O’Connell 021 920 410 or Michelle Battersby 021 993 735