Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden has announced major changes to employment law aimed at improving flexibility for businesses and creating clearer boundaries between employment and contracting.
The Employment Relations Amendment Bill, introduced to Parliament today, will establish a “gateway test” to better define contractor status and help companies adopt more innovative models with greater legal certainty.
Key reforms include restrictions on personal grievance claims: employees earning over $180,000 will no longer be able to pursue unjustified dismissal claims, and workers dismissed for serious misconduct will be ineligible for remedies like compensation or reinstatement. Van Velden says this will ensure bad behaviour is not rewarded and reduce costs for employers.
The Bill also removes the current ’30-day rule’, allowing immediate negotiation of contract terms at the beginning of employment. Van Velden says the reforms deliver on coalition commitments and will “help Kiwi businesses grow, innovate, and employ with confidence.” Public submissions will be invited when the Bill reaches Select Committee.
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This is simply making it easier for the big end of town to treat people like disposable commodities and will, no doubt, add to the reasons skilled labour gets on the next plane out of here. Who can blame them.
Human resourses have numbers; employees have names!