Christmas and New Year Public Holiday Entitlements 2020/21
12 November 2020
The Christmas and New Year period is fast approaching, as of today there are just 43 days until Christmas. This year the Christmas and New Year public holidays fall on Friday 25 December, Saturday 26 December, Friday 1 January and Saturday 2 January. Christmas Day and New Years day will be observed on the day that they fall. Boxing Day and the Day after New Years will be subject to Mondayisation.
Mondayisation always throws up a few curly questions so it is important that you take the time to ensure that you fully understand your employees entitlements.
It's Pay Back Time!
5 November 2020
While not a regular occurrence, there have been occasions where employers have overpaid employees, and then sought to recover these overpayments. Commonly, this is the result of a mistake in payroll. However, there are instances where employees are paid in advance, and then do not return the funds on leaving employment.
New Labour Government - what's on the workplace reform agenda?
5 November 2020
At New Zealand’s October general election, the Labour Party won a majority of Parliament’s seats and is likely to govern alone. Some of the workplace policies Labour campaigned on included:
Clubs New Zealand 2020 Wage and Salary Guide
22 October 2020
We would like to thank all clubs that participated in the recent 2020 Wage and Salary Survey and are pleased to announce that the Clubs New Zealand 2020 Wage and Salary Guide is now available for members to download in the resource room.
The 2020 Wage and Salary Survey was conducted as an online survey from 30th July 2020 through to 25th September 2020 for which we received a total of 101 responses.
Health and safety: Free assessment tool
22 October 2020
Every business needs to involve its people in keeping everyone safe and healthy. The free SafePlus online tool can help.
First you create a short survey to learn what your people think works well and where there’s room for improvement. Then you get a report with advice and guidance links tailored to your business.
Labour Day - Monday 26th October 2020
15 October 2020
This year Labour Day falls on Monday 26th October (fourth Monday in October). Labour Day is always observed on the day it falls and is not subject to 'mondayisation', calculating employee entitlements for labour day should be simple and can be done with the click of a button in most payroll systems.
As with all public holidays you first need to establish if the day the public holiday falls would otherwise be a working day for the employee. In most cases it’s easy to work out whether or not an employee would have normally worked on the day in question (known as an otherwise working day) because the working pattern or roster is constant and the employer and employee can agree about whether the employee would otherwise have worked that day.
Employment Policy Rundown
30 September 2020
The 2020 General Election is just around the corner, so we thought it might be helpful to summarise the major parties’ (and some “less major” parties’) policies in the area of employment and industrial relations. Note the following is taken from the parties’ policies themselves and are not the opinions (necessarily) of MGZ.
Resurgence Wage Subsidy
20 August 2020
The Government has opened up another wage subsidy support scheme to assist employers nationwide as the current Levels 2 across NZ and 3 for Auckland. This scheme is called the Resurgent Wage Subsidy. We have now had three rounds of subsidies, the Wage Subsidy (WS), the Wage Subsidy Extension (WSE) and now the Resurgence Wage Subsidy (RWS).
Employment under level 3
13 August 2020
Following 4 cases of community transmission in South Auckland, the Government has put Auckland back into level 3 lockdown and level 2 for the rest of the country from 12pm today Wednesday 12th August 2020.
Level 3 means only essential businesses and those which can operate in a non-contact way can open.
Validity of Medical Certificates
23 July 2020
As per the Business NZ Workplace Wellness Report 2019, New Zealand lost around 7.4 million working days due to absences in 2018. Time lost to absence averaged 4.7 days per employee, and it's estimated to cost the economy $NZD 1.79 billion. These figures are growing each year and has a direct effect on productivity of New Zealand business.
Covid-19 Wage Subsidy; No Work, No Pay?
16 July 2020
Two very recent Employment Relations Authority decisions have reached similar decisions about Wage Subsidy payments from different factual backgrounds. Both suggest that we may be due for a series of similar cases in the not too distant future. Both cases were heard on the papers.
Rostering and Staff at Level 2
28 May 2020
Now that we have a somewhat clearer picture of what life at level 2 looks like, clubs will be having to look closely at their rostering and staffing levels. Many clubs have opted to alter their hours of operation and/or reduce lunch or dinner services and with this comes a need to re-negotiate hours with some staff, remember that everything you negotiate with staff still has to be done under exactly the same employment regulations as applied prior to Covid-19. Negotiating fairly and in good faith is still
