Recent news
Latest items of recent news relevant to New Zealand as reported in our fortnightly newswire ‘Dernières nouvelles’.
New Zealand: New vaping laws
Although it was passed by parliament in August, the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Act 2020 has only just come into force …
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New Zealand: Skills Match Report changes
Employers are now no longer required to obtain a Skills Match Report from Work and Income to fill an occupation that is on either the undersupply or oversupply lists – although they will still need to demonstrate that they primarily want to recruit a New Zealander, and are hiring a migrant as a last resort …
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New Zealand: Trial and probationary periods
In light of the recent general election outcome, it remains uncertain whether larger employers will ever see the return of 90-day trial periods …
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New Zealand: Early return to work while on parental leave
Normally, an employee on parental leave may only return to work on a paid basis for short “keeping in touch” periods that collectively should not exceed 64 hours …
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New Zealand: Cannabis referendum
Employers need to start working on their drug misuse policies ahead of the coming referendum on New Zealand’s Cannabis Legislation and Control Bill …
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New Zealand: Balance of convenience defence
A health and safety case before the Employment Court of New Zealand, assessed last month for interim reinstatement, illustrates very well the opposing views where a Site Supervisor ignored safety-critical procedures for heavy processing equipment and was consequently dismissed …
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New Zealand: Employment Court decision finds discretionary incentive payments must be included in holiday pay calculations
Under the Holidays Act 2003, any payment that is clearly part of “gross earnings” must be counted as remuneration when calculating holiday pay …
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New Zealand: Parliament passes modernised Privacy Act
The new Privacy Act 2020 is expected to take effect on 1st December 2020 …
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New Zealand: Whistleblowers’ protection bill introduced to replace 20-year-old Act
The Protected Disclosures (Protection of Whistleblowers) Bill now before parliament would, if adopted, probably come into force on 1st July next year …
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New Zealand: Government extends wage subsidy scheme
The current wages subsidy scheme has been extended until 1st September 2020 …
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New Zealand: Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) visas extended
Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme visas that are set to expire between 18th August and 31st December 2020 have been extended by six months …
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New Zealand: Equal Pay Amendment Bill passes with unanimous support
Back in July last year, we reported that the Equal Pay Amendment Bill was waiting for a second reading …
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New Zealand: Government extends temporary work visas by six months
Employees with an employer-assisted temporary work visa that is due to expire before 31st December 2020 will have it automatically extended by a further six months …
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New Zealand: Time for Small Business Cashflow Scheme extended
The deadline for applications to the Small Business Cashflow Scheme has been extended until 31st December 2020 …
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New Zealand: Employment Relations (Triangular Employment) Amendment Act 2019
The Employment Relations (Triangular Employment) Amendment Act 2019 came fully into force on 28th June 2020 …
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