| In this edition: How TVNZ got its restructuring (very) wrong Possible changes to the Holidays Act Reminder to check employment agreements are up-to-date Medical certificates, Medical Council Guidelines and employment policies Our free webinars Check out our employment law articles on TradeMe Jobs Did you know we can help with … workplace facilitation and conflict resolution, and privacy issues and policies An interesting snippet on workplace perks TVNZ v E tū – how a high-profile redundancy process went very wrong In a move that received a lot of media coverage, TVNZ advised staff in March 2024 that it was proposing to cancel various well-known TV shows and to make a substantial number of positions redundant. E tū, the union representing some of the affected TVNZ employees, successfully argued in the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) that TVNZ had not complied with its obligations under the relevant collective employment agreement (CEA) and sought a compliance order that it do so. The clause in the CEA required “active participation with staff in the development of the organisation and changes in workplace practices”. It also specified that “employees will be involved throughout”. Although TVNZ had involved its employees earlier in the process, calling for ideas about how cost savings could be made, it failed to do so at the point when there was a specific proposal to cut staff numbers. TVNZ appealed to the Employment Court. The Chief Judge of the Court, Her Honour Christina Inglis, agreed with the Authority that TVNZ had breached the CEA clause requiring active participation and ordered that it comply within 20 working days. This meant that any redundancies were on hold until the company had engaged in meaningful consultation with affected employees. The cost in lost revenue, bad publicity and legal fees was considerable. Our advice for employers proposing to restructure their workforce or to disestablish roles is to make sure that they have first carefully considered the wording of any relevant employment agreements and policies. If you would like to discuss the implications of the case or to obtain advice about the wording of your policies or employment agreements and how it might affect a proposed restructuring, please contact us by clicking here lawyer@btlaw.co.nz or phone us on (04) 4725579. Changes to the Holidays Act? The Coalition Government has announced it is proposing to make some changes to annual holidays and sick leave entitlements. At this stage there are no specific details and it is not expected that they will be available until about September this year. What we do know is: Annual holidays – entitlements and pay for annual holidays can be difficult to calculate. The government is proposing to move to an accrual system. All employees who are entitled to paid sick leave currently get 10 days in each 12 months of continuous employment, even if they are part time workers. The government is proposing to pro rate sick leave to reflect the time an employee actually works. When we have more information, we will update you on the proposed changes. Check employment agreements are up-to-date Since 13 June 2023 there have been two notification periods applying to personal grievances: Employees must raise a sexual harassment grievance within 12 months of the date on which the action alleged to amount to the personal grievance occurred or came to their notice; They must raise any other personal grievance within 90 days beginning with the date on which the action alleged to amount to the personal grievance occurred or came to their notice. All employment agreements should be updated to refer to both notification periods. Employment agreements also need to include a summary of the employee’s entitlements to leave, including to family violence leave, and that they can apply for flexible working arrangements If you would like us to review your employment agreement documents, please contact us lawyer@btlaw.co.nz or phone (04) 4725597. Medical certificates, Medical Council Guidelines and employment policies Several weeks ago we presented a webinar, in conjunction with Dr Simon Ryder-Lewis, Specialist Occupational Physician, Work Health Solutions Limited, on the information that GPs should include in medical certificates. We noted that in August 2023 the Medical Council of New Zealand released new Guidelines on medical certification. They are interesting reading. Click here to see the Guidelines: https://www.mcnz.org.nz/assets/standards/Statement-on-medical-certification.pdf It’s clear from the Guidelines that medical certificates should not be limited to brief statements such as: X is unfit for work until 31 October 2024. If you’d like to see a recording of the webinar, click here to email us: lawyer@btlaw.co.nz Detailed medical certificates can be very helpful for employers and employees navigating employee ill health. Employers should consider having policies or guidelines as part of their employment documentation covering what they expect employees will have included in medical certificates and the information they may want employees to provide or obtain about their health, should the circumstances warrant this. We can provide tailor-made employment policies covering medical certificates/medical information to be provided when an employee is on sick leave. Click here if you would like to discuss this with us: lawyer@btlaw.co.nz Free webinars Since the beginning of this year we’ve been co-presenting free webinars with Dr Simon Ryder-Lewis, Specialist Occupational Physician, Work Health Solutions Limited, on interesting workplace medical topics. We’ve covered topics such as: Pre-employment health checks Depression in the workplace Medical certificates Part 1 Medical certificates Part 2 – Managing long term sick leave Bartlett Law has also presented a webinar on restructurings and redundancies. Our next webinar, in conjunction with Dr Ryder-Lewis, will be in mid to late July and will be on neurodivergence in the workplace. Click here if you don’t currently receive invitations to these free webinars and you’d like to go on the list for this: lawyer@btlaw.co.nz Employment law articles on TradeMe Jobs We are contributors of employment law articles on the TradeMe Jobs website. Click on the links below to see our articles: How to bring your employees back into the office (when they have been working from home): https://www.trademe.co.nz/c/employer/article/how-to-bring-your-employees-back-into-the-office Annual holidays questions and answers: https://www.trademe.co.nz/c/employer/article/legal-experts-answer-your-questions-on-annual-holidays Supporting the mental health of your employees: https://www.trademe.co.nz/c/employer/article/supporting-the-mental-health-of-your-employees Did you know … Workplace facilitation and conflict coaching We can assist employers and employees with workplace facilitation and conflict coaching. For example, if two employees are not getting along, we can work with them on this. We are able to provide assistance promptly and help the parties with difficult discussions or situations. We can also provide mediation services (Carolyn is a qualified mediator – click here to see her website: http://mediation.bartlettlaw.co.nz/), for example, where an employee has raised a personal grievance or raised an employment relationship problem that needs to be addressed. In our experience, problems can be resolved if the parties agree to and engage in facilitation at an early stage. Privacy We are also experienced in privacy law and can advise on policies, complaints, information requests and possible or actual breaches. If it looks as though there may have been a privacy breach, urgent advice is needed to address and contain the breach. We can provide this advice and assistance. Workplace perks From Bloomberg news: To get workers back to the office, bosses have dangled fancy coffee, yoga classes and DJ parties. But that still hasn’t been enough, so some firms are giving employees a more traditional perk: a desk of their own. Hot desking or hoteling, where workers get a desk when they show up instead of having a permanent one, isn’t new but really took off during the pandemic as a way for companies to save money amid a new era of hybrid work. Now some firms are realizing that they may have gone too far. Penelope, Carolyn, Andrea, Sarah and Lyn |
