News - Chapman ER

Bullied Employee Wins Constructive Dismissal

January 19, 2021

Employee sought an exit strategy when raising the grievance, however the employer was found to have breached their duty of care.

No Obligation to Pay Minimum Wage to Non-Working Employees During Lockdown

January 18, 2021

An airline catering company, Gate Gourmet, was found to have breached the Minimum Wage Act by paying staff less than the minimum wage during the Covid-19 lockdown. The company appealed the ERA decision...

New Sick Leave Entitlement

January 18, 2021

The Government have started the process to increase employee sick leave from 5 days to 10 days per year with the introduction of a Bill to Parliament. The Bill will go through a full select committee process and is expected to be passed in mid-2021

Potential Christmas Problems Q & A

December 3, 2020

Some staff issues can arise more frequently during the Christmas / New Year’s period, particularly poor behaviour, staff safety issues and additional unplanned absences. We have put together some Q & A's to assist you to manage these situations.

Christmas Closedowns and Employee Leave

November 29, 2020

As 4 public holidays over the Christmas/New Year’s period fall on Fridays and Saturdays this year, businesses may like to close over some or all of this period. This might mean that some or all employees could be required to take leave during this time. To understand the two types of closedowns and your employee obligations.

Paying Employees Statutory Days – Christmas and New Year

November 27, 2020

Christmas Day and New Year’s Day fall on a Friday this year with Boxing Day and the Day after New Year’s falling on a Saturday. If you are unsure how your employees should be paid over these statutory holidays.

Privacy Act Changes

November 27, 2020

The Privacy Act has been updated and came into effect 1st December 2020. A lot has changed since the last update in 1993, including the use of the internet as a business tool and to store data. To find out the key changes and what your business should now be taking into consideration.

Recruitment and Selection Mistakes

November 3, 2020

Are you guilty of any of the following? Here are the most common slip ups we see employers making.. ..Making hasty decisions because you are desperate! Using an interview as your only selection tool.. read more

Recruiting After Restructuring

November 3, 2020

A number of businesses are showing signs of recovery post COVID-19 lockdown, and have found themselves needing to expand their team and advertise for more staff, after initially making people redundant. So - what if you had to let an employee go recently due to the COVID downturn and now you need to refill that position – must you re-employ your ex-employee?

Did you Know?…

October 13, 2020

Reference checking, whether conducting them yourself or offering to be a referee for an ex employee, can sometimes be tricky to ensure it is without risk. To understand the guidelines around reference checks, read more...

What to say When?

October 12, 2020

When an employee leaves your business, for whatever reason, it is important to explain or communicate to the remaining staff in a professional way. Here are some examples...2 minute read

Overpaid Employee Ordered to Repay Employer

October 12, 2020

The Employment Relations Authority (ERA) has found that an employee of Noel Leeming Group had been overpaid while they were on ACC-funded leave and ordered the employee to repay the overpayment. The employee, Michael Saunders, had been employed since late 2017. In December 2018 he suffered a non-work accident and was then off work until 21 March 2019.

What to say When?

September 1, 2020

‘Many of my employees have enjoyed working from home in recent months due to the Alert Level restrictions imposed on our working environment. Now some want to work from home permanently and I am struggling to justify why they can’t after 3 months of being able to do so. I also don’t want to create an influx of requests!’..What can I say in response to them?

Alert Level 2 – Covid Testing, Payments, Work attendance

September 1, 2020

My employee won’t come to work, my employee won’t test, when do I and when don’t I need to pay my employee? Paying employees who cannot attend work because they have been advised by the Ministry of Health to stay home while waiting for COVID test results.

Triangular Employment Relationships Explained

September 1, 2020

A triangular employment arrangement is a situation where the employer (the agency) arranges for the employee’s placement or assignment with a third party (the host organisation). It is ‘triangular’ because there are three parties to an employment arrangement, with each party having distinct relationships with one another. Changes to employment law in the past month mean a worker in these triangular situations can now claim a personal grievance against a host organisation.

Privacy Act – What’s Changing?

August 31, 2020

The privacy Act 2020 comes into effect 1 December 2020. The current privacy laws were last put in place in 1993. A lot has changed since, including the use of the internet as a business tool and to store data. Read more to see what the key changes will be.

Reducing Pay During Level 4 Lockdown: ERA Decisions

August 4, 2020

Two personal grievances raised in relation to reducing pay during Level 4 lockdown have been heard and decided on by the Employment Relations Authority. The wage subsidy declaration gave many employers the impression that as long as they had used their ‘best endeavours’ to pay their staff at 80% of their normal wages then there wasn’t an actual obligation to pay them anything more than the wage subsidy itself.

Redundancy During COVID-19 lockdown: The first grievance decision

August 4, 2020

The first case for a redundancy during COVID-19 lockdown has been decided by the Employment Relations Authority. It has cost the employer a pay out to two former employees a total of just over $58,000.

Traffic Stop-Go Controller Sought $80K but Ordered to pay Employer

August 4, 2020

Yoon Cheol Hong worked for Chevron Traffic Services Ltd as a Traffic Controller from September 2017 until his dismissal in…

Payroll Q & A

August 4, 2020

Test your payroll knowledge with these tricky questions relating to holiday pay for employees with changed working hours, redundancy pay and contractors on your payroll. If you would like other questions answered in our next Q & A please email them to [email protected]

When a Discretionary Payment isn’t Discretionary

June 18, 2020

A recent full sitting of the Employment Court (three judges), made a decision on a key holiday pay question: what ‘discretionary payments’ such as bonuses are included in holiday pay calculations. When calculating Holiday Pay the Holidays Act requires “productivity and incentive based payments” to be taken into account. There are however exceptions to this...

Employee or Contractor ? A new case.

June 18, 2020

Earlier this month the Employment Court decided a Courier Driver operating as an Independent Contractor was in fact an employee. This is not a new issue, and there is well established case law setting out the criteria used to determine whether a person is genuinely a contractor. Although this decision made headlines, it was not a surprising decision when considering the relevant facts.

Wage Subsidy Extension

June 18, 2020

The extension to the Wage Subsidy has far more clarity than the original, however there are still some areas of potential confusion. The Work and Income website remains the best source of information, and I have highlighted a few of the key considerations rather than repeat all they have said.

Personal Grievances from Temps Possible

June 18, 2020

Way back, seemingly a lifetime ago, the government introduced the Employment Relations (Triangular Employment) Amendment Bill. On 27 June this Bill comes into law, and will impact organisations who use temps, secondees or third parties to engage labour.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

April 17, 2020

If your reaction to yesterday’s description of Alert Level 3 was an awful sinking feeling, this Newsfeed is for you. For some industries and businesses you may be planning for how you can return to work if there is a change to Level 3 next week and there will be different information coming for you.

Planning for a Return

April 15, 2020

The government has not said what criteria will be used to determine if we come out of Alert Level 4, although a couple of the factors include the trend and number of new cases, and the source of new cases (community spread being the issue). We have also been told categorically that Alert Level 4 will not be lifted early. The government has however said they will tell us on Monday whether the Alert Level will change. Although not particularly helpful I can understand why. So we are going to have to prepare for all the different possibilities, and communicate this to our teams...

Paying Public Holidays

April 8, 2020

In short, there is no change to how you pay public holidays for Good Friday and Easter Monday. What may have changed is the rate you pay them at, and/or whether the day is now an otherwise working day for the employee. Here are the basics and the questions that may stem from that....

Key Government Announcements

April 6, 2020

• Wage subsidy for vulnerable employees in essential services • Payment for Easter Public Holidays • Changes to the Companies Act; Please remember the changes have not yet been made to the Act, and the government has advised they will be retrospective to Friday 3 April. The temporary changes include:...

Wage Subsidy not a Panacea

April 3, 2020

Yesterday afternoon Jacinda Ardern (who I think has been demonstrating incredible leadership qualities through this crisis), made a statement that riled me and in my view was irresponsible on a number of levels. It related to the publisher Bauer closing its business in NZ. Ardern appeared to make a dig at the company stating they were asked “if they could take up the wage subsidy. They refused.”

Important Things to Keep in Mind

April 1, 2020

• Minimum Wage Increase 1 April • Changes to hours and pay must be agreed in writing • Wage claims can be backdated 6 years • Distributing the subsidy • Salary thresholds for Skilled Migrant Resident Visas and Essential Skills Work Visas

Cashflow Forecasts and Making the Hard Decisions

March 31, 2020

I have found the most difficult factor in making any decisions for my business is the uncertainty of how long the close down will continue and when it is lifted, how long will the economic recovery take, and what will customer demand be both in terms of volume and services required.