Employer? 3 Questions Employers Ask About Employment Law
Examples of what we help employers with:
- Drafting employment agreements
- Advising on employment disputes
- Advising on compliance with Acts of parliament
- Advising on public holiday policy and annual leave entitlement
- Advising on holiday pay payments (pay as you go, accumulation)
- Advising on the 90 day trial period
Let’s take a closer look at the 3 questions we get most often.
1. "I found an employment agreement template online. Will that do?"
You have 3 options with an employment agreement:
- A verbal agreement only
- Find a template
- Customised employment agreement
a. Verbal Agreement:
The law says that all employment agreements must be in writing and signed by both parties.
If an employment issue arises and there is no written agreement, you will have difficulty asserting your position.
For example, you may end up having to pay redundancy compensation in the absence of a written agreement which specifies what happens in a redundancy situation.
b. Employment Agreement Template:
You can easily find templates to copy from the internet or you can use the Department of Labour’s Employment Agreement builder.
A template will get you the basic components of an employment agreement:
- Names of the parties
- The place of work
- The hours of work
- The pay
- What happens in a restructuring
- How to raise a personal grievance
Examples of situations that a basic template won’t cover:
- Recovering money from an employee who has received benefits in advance or damaged company property.
- What if you own a service station and there is a robbery, what is stopping your employees from talking to the press and providing information that is wrong?
c. Customised Employment Agreement
The advantage of getting a lawyer to draft an employment agreement is that it will cover a wide variety of situations tailored to suit your needs, be it for permanent, fixed term or casual employment.
2. "What is the best way to dismiss an underperforming employee?"
To answer this question, there are a number of other questions we’ll need to work through together. For example:
- What have they done?
- What's the issue?
- Is there a 90 day trial period?
- Have you verbally warned them?
- Have you provided written warnings?
- Have you got an employment contract that covers this situation?
- What have you said to them so far?
3. "I’m buying/selling a business. What happens to the staff?"
There are lots of considerations in this situation. And we need to tread lightly because the situation can be very stressful for staff who lose certainty about their future.
- Some employees have an automatic right to transfer to the new employer
- Some may be offered jobs with the new employer
- Others might not have a job with the new employer
- The outgoing employer may have to terminate all agreements and settle them
Another question you may have is “when am I obliged to tell the staff we are buying/selling the business?”
What’s Next?
It is important to bear in mind that everyone’s situation is unique and any issue will turn on its own facts. An underlying principle is that an employment relationship is a relationship of good faith and trust.
If you are an employee or employer dealing with any issue in the workplace, give us a call to help you reach resolution with your employment issues:
- Tauranga: (07) 578 8888
- Omokoroa:(07) 548 1048