Employers will need to adapt to changes in employment legislation, in areas including agreed hours of work, availability provisions, cancellation of shifts and secondary employment provisions.
The Employment Standards Legislation Bill (the Bill) affects the Wages Protection Act 1983, the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987 and the Employment Relations Act 2000. The Bill entered into force on 1 April 2016 and will apply to all new individual employment agreements from that date. Individual agreements already in place must be updated by 1 April 2017.
The purposes behind these changes are multiple, but notably, they aim to address “zero hour” contracts. They are not meant to affect the law on restraints of trade.
Changes to the Employment Relations Act 2000 under the Bill are as follows:
- stronger obligations as to keeping written records for wages, time and leave. Records must be detailed enough to show that the employer has complied with minimum entitlement legislation such as the Minimum Wage Act 1983;
- agreed hours of work: these must be specified in the written agreement.
- “availability provisions” obligate an employee to accept work if made available by an employer. These can only be provided in an agreement with agreed hours of work and guaranteed hours of work.
- cancellation of shifts: agreements relating to shift work must provide for reasonable notice to cancel a shift and reasonable compensation should a shift be cancelled without that notice.
- “secondary employment provisions” restrict or preclude an employee from working for another person, or allow that work only with the employer’s consent. Employers must now have genuine reasons on reasonable grounds to include these. Genuine reasons include a risk of loss or to reputation, or preventing a real conflict of interest.
Further, changes to the Wages Protection Act 1983 will require employers to consult employees before deducting pay, and that any deductions be reasonable.