Employment update [March 2010]

The employment law landscape is an area of reform that the National Government has targeted since taking office. Listed below are some of the recent changes and proposals for change in employment law that may affect you.

The Minister of Labour, Hon. Kate Wilkinson, announced in December 2009 that the Government proposed to amend the definition of serious harm under the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992. The definition of serious harm is important as an employer or person in control of a workplace must, where serious harm has occurred, report this immediately to the appropriate authority - the Department of Labour, The Civil Aviation Authority or Maritime New Zealand.

The proposed definition of serious harm will contain three main categories of harm:
• Trauma injury - physical harm arising out of a single accident or event and defined by the degree of physical incapacity,
• Acute illness or injury - requiring treatment by a medical practitioner and caused by exposure to workplace hazards, and
• Chronic or serious occupational illness or injury - physical or mental harm requiring hospital admission, in-patient surgery, or able to be confirmed by a specialist medical diagnosis.

It is expected that the proposed definition will be clearer and easier to use and will remove the gaps in coverage of certain types of harm or hazard which currently exist.

Report on Workplace Deaths
In December 2009 the Government ordered a report into workplace deaths. At that time there had been 31 workplace deaths in 2009 - all of which were men.

Most of the deaths remain under investigation. The Department of Labour has been asked to identify whether there are any common underlying causes and whether employers had failed to meet their obligations to keep employees safe.

Holidays Act Review
The review of the Holidays Act 2003 was received by Minister of Labour Hon. Kate Wilkinson in December 2009 and the Government intends that proposals for change will be introduced to a select committee for comment this year.

Some of the proposals may include:
• the opportunity to trade 1 week of annual leave for cash,
• a change in the method of calculating holiday and sick leave entitlements, and
• the transfer of public holidays to another day.

Watch this space for further updates!

Rest and Meal Breaks
Since 1 April 2009 employees have been entitled to compulsory rest and meal breaks after a certain number of hours of work. Many workplaces met or exceeded the compulsory minimums, however for some workplaces the compulsory prescription of rest and meal breaks presented difficulties and significantly affected their workplaces.

The Rest Breaks and Meal Breaks Amendment Bill, while maintaining an entitlement to rest and meal breaks, proposes that:
• employers and employees may agree on the timing of the breaks rather than the timing being prescribed by legislation,
• employers may not have to provide a complete break from work duties in situations where the employee is a sole attendant, and
• where a break cannot reasonably be provided the parties may agree that time off is given at an alternative time, for example an employee may start later or finish earlier in the day.

The Government hopes that this relaxation of the requirements will provide employers with the flexibility to schedule their rest and meal breaks in a way that best suits their industry.

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