All employment agreements must contain a provision by 1 April 2005 relating to working on a public holiday that is consistent with the new law which provides for time and a half.

This applies to all new and existing agreements but there are complicated rules as to how this is implemented.  If your agreements are not up to date this could result in a personal grievance claim for damages and penalties of up to $5000 for an individual or $10,000 for a company for each non compliant employment agreement.

In addition to the time and a half provisions all agreements must also contain provisions outlining dispute resolution procedures and the 90 day time limit for personal grievances.

Do all your employment agreements comply?

Are they:-

  1. In writing?
  2. And specify:-

  3. The place of business?
  4. The hours of work?
  5. The nature of the work?
  6. The rate of pay?
  7. Public holiday pay?
  8. Personal grievance provisions?

At your request we will review each form of standard agreement you presently have for a set fee.  We have agreements in standard form that we can supply to you that you can use for each employee or we can supply additional clauses for you to insert in your agreements with advice on the best place for these.

To have Alan Knowsley or one of our other lawyers working in Employment Risks Management call you email us at aknowsley@raineycollins.co.nz and in the subject line of your reply please enter the name and phone number of your preferred contact person.  We’ll call you promptly to assist you to get your Employment Agreements up to date and help you avoid the steep penalties and business disruptions non-compliance can cause for you.

If you’d prefer to phone please contact Alan Knowsley on (04) 4736 850.