Local employers who hire migrants would do well to double-check they’re complying with all of their employment obligations, lest they be banned from employing foreign staff, under new laws which came into effect on April 1.
In his song, Italian Restaurant, Billy Joel sums up a piece of fraud prevention advice I regularly give to small business owners: A bottle of white, a bottle of red … perhaps a bottle of rose instead.
As well as the major health and safety overhaul, employers and workers have had a busy year getting their heads around another flurry of changes that have been introduced through the Employment Standards Legislation.
Ensuring each staff member has an up-to-date employment contract – as required by law – just got a little easier with the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) launching an online employment agreement builder.
As we bid farewell to another ski season, it won’t be long and our neck of the woods will be back heaving with visitors enjoying the holiday season, and fruit-picking will be in full swing. And, once again, many local employers will likely be relying on temporary migrant workers to bolster their ranks to see their businesses successfully through another busy spell.
Anyone thinking employment law is a bit of a dry, stuffy old affair need only take in some of the headline grabbers of the past few months to realise just how heated – and public – the fallout from workplace relations-gone-sour can become.
I read some jaw-dropping stats on a news site recently. Surely, surely they can’t be that high, I mused. I headed straight to the website of the statistical source, Statistics New Zealand, and, sure enough, the rate of injury-based claims to ACC from our high-risk sectors – forestry, agriculture and fishing – was more than sobering.
