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“Direct employment is too difficult, I’ll just put them on an independent contractor agreement”. This assertion is one I hear frequently in the Salon industry, but it is a belief that is fraught with danger for two major reasons: The Independent contractor claiming they are actually an employee and therefore
One of the key challenges in the new health and safety legislation is the positive obligation to ‘consult,cooperate and coordinate’ with other businesses including contractors. This piece of legislation in the HSWAct 2015 has been introduced primarily to reduce the risk to workers arising when several businesses work together. As
A human resources company leasing premises in a multi-tenanted office block has concerns about lift maintenance but who is legally responsible? In this case, there is a shared duty of care for lift maintenance in a multi-tenanted office block. All businesses have a duty of care as a person conducting
In October 2016 the Auckland Council and contractors were required to pay $255,000 over the death of a 19 year old refuse worker. Refuse worker Jane Devonshire was killed in August last year when a rubbish truck, owned by Auckland Council contractor Onyx, went over a cliff in Birkenhead on
The non-compliance with this Act has become a significant employment issue, with non compliant companies featuring in the news regularly. Employment Law is dynamic and many companies are not fully aware of their obligations under the current law. MBIE had produced this guide to assist employers and employees to clearly
A historic pay deal for thousands of low-income workers has been signed after a landmark ruling on equal pay earlier this year. The deal will affect about 55,000 mainly women staff in government-funded sectors involving aged care, home support and disability services with some people seeing a pay rise from
As part of it’s workplace relations package, the Labour Party has promised a living wage of $16.50 an hour for the public service, with the minimum wage rising to two-thirds of the average wage over time. They also want to introduce trial periods that include better options for employees to
This ruling sends a clear message to all employers that they need to provide safe work environments free from intimidation. Allan Halse, teacher’s advocate and director of CultureSafe New Zealand, said it was an unprecedented payout, at four times the usual sum awarded by the Employment Relations Court. As this
A labour hire company working on asparagus farms in the Waikato must pay over $58,000 after being caught twice by the Labour Inspectorate failing to keep employment records. The company has a history of non-compliance, with the Inspectorate first visiting BBS in November 2013 and discovering many employees were working
Last month, Precise Contracting Ltd was found guilty of failing to pay 83 employees a minimum wage, correct holiday pay or keeping proper records. This included regularly altering timesheet and regularly failing to pay an employee’s last weeks wages. Kevin Finnegan from the Labour Inspectorate said “Just because you find
