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As a result of the recent Alert Level 4 Lockdown the Government has increased the focus on vaccinating the population as a means to addressing the wider spread of the Covid-19 Virus within New Zealand. With vaccination rates now increasing this has raised the question as to whether an employer can require their staff to

As you read this newsletter, many of you will now be working under Alert Level 3 conditions and grappling with the logistics of having staff return to work. While being able to restart the business will be a relief to business owners and managers, the current lockdown has yet again taught us a few lessons

With the Government having now announced that a staged roll-out process for the Covid-19 vaccination will commence in July 2020, this has begun to raise a number of questions for employers. The announced roll-out strategy will see New Zealander’s, who wish to be vaccinated, eligible to book a vaccination appointment based on age brackets between

A common question that we get asked is – how enforceable is the Restraint of Trade provision within the employee employment agreement? This is most commonly questioned when a valuable employee has recently resigned to take up a similar position in a nearby or competing industry. To answer this question, we need to understand the

Since returning to the office after the break, several clients have enquired whether it is likely that we will return to lockdown in 2021 and if so, what can employers do to prepare themselves for this? The fear of a further lockdown is clearly motivated by the emergence of the new UK and South African

For many years’ employees have been advancing leave to new employees (those who have not yet completed 12 months services) to cover any required period off work during the company’s annual shutdown period. This process has worked well with the amount to advanced leave then deducted from the four (4) week entitlement when this falls

As of 1 December 2020, all New Zealand registered companies must have a nominated Privacy Officer. This is a requirement under the Privacy Act 2020 coming into as of this date. No special training is required of the person who is nominated to be the Company Privacy Officer, however they are required to understand the

Increasingly employers are being required to undertake investigations into complaints or incidents prior to implementing any form of significant disciplinary action. In fact, Unjustified Dismissal claims within the Employment Relations Authority can be won or lost on the quality of the investigation undertaken by the employer. With this process now becoming a more common requirement,

Increasingly Employers are receiving medical certificates from Employees stating that they are currently off work due to ‘stress leave’ – in many cases the Doctor specifying this to be “work related stress”. When receiving such certificates, what are the Employer’s obligations to pay the Employee for this period of absence? First and foremost – there