Absenteeism Recent Case Law Political Landscape for Employment

1. PEOPLE • BUSINESS • SUCCESS 2/12/2020 1
UPDATE
December 2020

2. TODAYS TOPICS
22/12/2020PEOPLE • BUSINESS • SUCCESS
• Absenteeism
• Recent Cases of Interest
• Political Landscape

3. ABSENTEEISM
32/12/2020PEOPLE • BUSINESS • SUCCESS

4. CURRENT CLIMATE
42/12/2020PEOPLE • BUSINESS • SUCCESS
• Employers are frustrated by absent
employees
• Higher levels of absenteeism 2020
• Covid and Covid testing
• Absent for several reasons
• Long term absence for illness or injury
• General absence

5. LONG TERM ILLNESS / INJURY (ACC)
52/12/2020PEOPLE • BUSINESS • SUCCESS
• Consider after 6 weeks how the
ongoing absence is impacting the
business
• What to consider
• How long are they expected to be
away
• Is the injury work related or non work
related
• Employee’s attitude
• Other considerations
• Should they stay or should they go?

6. INTERMITTENT SICK LEAVE
62/12/2020PEOPLE • BUSINESS • SUCCESS
• Challenge to manage
• Good process in place
• Employees should know you’re
managing their sick leave
• Use the legal clauses in our
employment agreements to mange
the process
• Proactively manage excessive sick
leave

7. NEW SICK LEAVE ENTITLEMENTS
72/12/2020PEOPLE • BUSINESS • SUCCESS
New Bill introduced on Monday,
early indications are:
• Minimum of 10 paid sick days per year
• Total number unused remains at 20
• Passed into law late 2021
Keep you updated as things change

8. QUESTIONS?
82/12/2020PEOPLE • BUSINESS • SUCCESS

9. RECENT CASE LAW
92/12/2020PEOPLE • BUSINESS • SUCCESS

10. CASES OF INTEREST
RESTRUCTURING AND REDUNDANCY
102/12/2020PEOPLE • BUSINESS • SUCCESS
• Jason Kiteley v Carbine Aginvest
Corporation Limited [2020] NZEmpC
106
• Concerns a claim by employee that he
was unjustifiably dismissed from his
employment.
• When does the obligations of employer
to look at redeployment end?

11. SCOTT V PRESBYTERIAN SUPPORT
SERVICES CHARITABLE TRUST
112/12/2020PEOPLE • BUSINESS • SUCCESS
• Employer Breached terms of
Settlement Agreement s.149
• You must adhere to agreed terms of
settlement
• Can you deviate from agreed
reference?
• What can an employer say when there
is a settlement agreement with an
agreed reference ?

12. SCOTT V PRESBYTERIAN SUPPORT
SERVICES CHARITABLE TRUST
122/12/2020PEOPLE • BUSINESS • SUCCESS
• Strong penalties for breaching
settlements
• Penalty for each breach

13. QUESTIONS?
132/12/2020PEOPLE • BUSINESS • SUCCESS

14. POLITICAL LANDSCAPE
142/12/2020PEOPLE • BUSINESS • SUCCESS

15. UNDER A LABOUR GOVERNMENT
WHAT IS INSTORE
152/12/2020PEOPLE • BUSINESS • SUCCESS
• Sick Leave / Holidays Act
• Minimum Wage
• Pay Equity
• Fair Pay Agreements
• Privacy Act
• Dependent Contractors

16. SICK LEAVE
162/12/2020PEOPLE • BUSINESS • SUCCESS
• Most current information available
• Will legislate for a minimum 10 days
sick leave per year
• No intention to increase the 20 days
accrual – what about increases to
current terms where more than
minimum?
• Likely to become law in late 2021

17. MINIMUM WAGE
172/12/2020PEOPLE • BUSINESS • SUCCESS
• Government committed to increase
the minimum wage on 1 April 2021 to
$20.00
• An increase on current minimum of
$18.90 of almost 6%
• Impact on wage/salary relativities
• Plan ahead – Living Wage …

18. PAY EQUITY
182/12/2020PEOPLE • BUSINESS • SUCCESS
• Pay equity is about women and men
receiving the same pay for doing jobs
that are different, but of equal value
(that is, jobs that require similar
degrees of skills, responsibility, and
effort).
• Job evaluation, or job sizing, enables
organisations to understand internal
relativities and compare similar sized
jobs to external market rates

19. PAY EQUITY
192/12/2020PEOPLE • BUSINESS • SUCCESS
Typical factors used in assessing job size
include:
• skills and knowledge
• experience (senior or junior)
• responsibility
• demands and effort
• working conditions
• relativity with other similar jobs.
• Seeing increasing momentum of pay
equity claims – support staff in schools,
now early childhood teachers

20. FAIR PAY AGREEMENTS
202/12/2020PEOPLE • BUSINESS • SUCCESS
• Pressure on Govt to progress these
• Essence would be sector or industry
based agreements with minimum
terms and national standards
• Likely to lead to centralised bargaining
with unions
• We will keep you posted

21. PRIVACY ACT 2020
212/12/2020PEOPLE • BUSINESS • SUCCESS
• No longer ‘1993’ Act - has been
replaced not just amended [December 1]
• New Act includes various important
changes, "the most significant one
that will affect business is mandatory
breach notification” – Commissioner
• now 13 information privacy principles
instead of the original 12

22. PRIVACY ACT
222/12/2020PEOPLE • BUSINESS • SUCCESS
• The most important additions in the new Act
are the duty to notify affected individuals of
breaches when they may suffer serious harm
• OPC’s power to issue compliance notices
against agencies - underpinned by fines.
• Principle 1 has always required that an agency
can only collect personal information in
relation to its legitimate purposes and not
unrelated ones - now also forbids collecting
identifying information altogether where it is
possible to provide a service without doing so.

23. DEPENDENT CONTRACTORS
232/12/2020PEOPLE • BUSINESS • SUCCESS
• Law is moving fast on this issue
• Examine real nature of the
engagement and relationship
• Degree of integration, control,
independence and parties intentions
• Watch this space

24. ANY QUESTIONS
Thank you for you time today
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