It appears that written references are becoming less relevant these days. Increasingly, employers will refuse to give references in writing, because it is difficult to ensure consistency and fairness to all employees. Many large employers make it a matter of policy not to give written references at all. In addition,
If you are an employer, there is a good chance you have had the thought that it is hard to dismiss employees in this country. You sense that the law is skewed against you and in favour of employees. To some extent that is true: there is a natural imbalance
The nature of employment law claims often allows early resolution without lengthy and costly litigation. That is because the sums at issue often do not justify the expense of court disputes. Often employees and employers would rather get on with their lives than expose themselves to further risk and cost.
I often hear employers and employees say restraint of trade clauses are not enforceable and that we don’t need to bother with them. That’s not exactly true. In fact, not so long ago the Employment Court encouraged us all to take post-employment restraints more seriously when it declared: ‘Gone are
The 90-day trial period has been part of the New Zealand employment law landscape since 2009, but employers and employees are still coming to terms with how it operates. In 2019 it was modified yet again to only apply to small to medium-sized employers (i.e. those with less than 20
In the minds of some employers, 8% is a magic figure. The thinking goes that if you pay 8% of an employee’s compensation with their wages each week, then you don’t have to bother with all the hassle of keeping a balance of that employee’s annual holidays and coming to
Last week the California Labor Commission decided that an Uber driver, Barbara Berwick, was an employee of Uber – even though Ms Berwick was described in her dealings with the company as an independent contractor. How can someone who enters into an agreement as a contractor be found to be
Yes, you can. But before making your position redundant, your employer must be particularly careful that they have not treated you just like any other employee. That is because employees on parental leave have some special protections. If your employer does not satisfy these higher standards, your dismissal may be
Under the Employment Relations Act 2000 employees must raise a personal grievance with their employer within 90 days of the events giving rise to the grievance or coming to the employee’s attention. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO RAISE A PERSONAL GRIEVANCE IN NEW ZEALAND? There is no special formula or magic words that employees
NO LONGER JUST AN ONLINE BUSINESS CARD When I first ventured out on my own as a barrister sole, one of the first things I did was ask a friend to help me get a website up and running. At the time I looked around for good examples of other
