Employment Relations Amendment Act 2018 Law Changes

Employment New Zealand advise us : this Act introduced a number of Employment changes that aim to improve fairness in the workplace and deliver decent work conditions and fair wages / it restores protection for employees , especially vulnerable employees and strengthens the role of collective bargaining in the workplace / it rolls out the law back to how it was as recently as 2015 .

The Act passed with most changes taking effect either 12.12.18 or 06.05.19.

Changes effective December 12^th 2018 :

• Union Representatives can now enter workplaces without consent provided the employees are covered under , or bargaining towards a collective agreement 
• Pay deductions can no longer be made for partial strikes such as eg. wearing t-shirts instead of uniforms as part of low-level industrial action
• Businesses must now enter into bargaining for multi-employer collective agreements if asked to join by a union
• Employees will have extended protections against discrimination on the basis of their union membership status
• If requested by the employee , reinstatement will be the first course of action considered by the Employment Relations Authority for unfair dismissal finding 
• Earlier initiation timeframes have been restored for unions in collective bargaining 
• New categories of employees may apply to receive the protections  afforded to “vulnerable employees” 

There are another nine changes in effect May 6^th 2019 but not room to list here – please go to www.employment.govt.nz/about/employment-law/employment-relations for those and the balance of information about the ones shown above as this is a brief summary only . We also have 2 pages provided by Employment New Zealand. If you would like a copy:  please ask us at Wairarapa Citizen’s Advice Bureau 43 Perry Street Masterton, phone 06 377 0078