After the mad rush to March 31, for many businesses – especially those in our parts who are hectic during the snow season – this is a great time to take stock, and consider some of those “should dos” that tend to slide off the radar as the new financial year picks up speed.
It’s around 16 years since the Employment Relations Act came into being, yet many businesses still don’t have employment agreements in place or, if they do, they’re either outdated or a mix and match of clauses. Make no mistake: employment contracts aren’t optional extras; they are a legal requirement.
BYO – build your own
Whether your filing cabinet’s completely bare on this front, or your agreements are past their use-by date, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment made life a whole lot easier with last year’s launch of its online employment agreement builder.
So, why not make the 2017-18 financial year the one you get your business’ employment agreements whipped into shape? MBIE’s DIY agreement builder is a great start – it’ll even prompt you if you haven’t included mandatory clauses.
Be sure, though, as you’re going through, that you aren’t adding in anything that would be against the law – for example, “zero hour” provisions or an hourly rate that’s below the current minimum wage.
If you’re starting out with the employment agreement builder for the first time, you’ll see there are mandatory, recommended and optional provisions which you can include. Sometimes, less is more, but be careful that you do end up with a sufficiently-customised agreement to actually fit your business’ needs.
The employment agreement builder will only be relevant for your business’ employees. If you employ contractors, you’ll need a “contract for services”, which your legal adviser will be able to give you a hand with. Remember, it can be a fine line between contractor and employee, and it’s not a call you want to get wrong; it could land you before the Employment Relations Authority, not to mention put you at risk of running foul of the Inland Revenue Department.
When you have your finished document from the employment agreement builder, as with any agreement, it’s always a good idea to have your legal adviser run their eye over the content to make sure you’ve complied with the relevant legislation.
If you’re dealing with a contractor, you might have a contract for services template that you have used previously. If so, the same applies: put it past your lawyer to check it’s up to date and still relevant.
Saving lives at work
One of the most significant developments in employment law last year was the introduction of the new Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, a move the Government hopes will reduce New Zealand’s workplace fatality rate by 25 percent by 2020.
There seems to be much fear of retribution for getting things wrong in the health and safety sphere, and rightly so. The question then becomes: have you thought about it? And, do you have the practices and policies in place to comply with your obligations?
You must first establish whether you’re deemed by law to be a “PCBU” (person conducting a business or undertaking). If so, you’ll have a number of responsibilities pursuant to the new Act.
There are also obligations that “officers” of an organisation need to be aware of – just to be clear, an “officer” will be a director, partner in a partnership or senior executives, provided they hold a position that allows them to exercise significant influence over the management of the business. Officers need to conduct robust due diligence to ensure the PCBU complies with its duties.
When all is said and done, your business’ primary duty of care is ensuring the workplace is safe by: providing and maintaining a working environment that is without risk to health and safety; providing and maintaining safe plant and structures; providing and maintaining safe systems; ensuring safe use, handling and storage of plant, structures and substances; providing adequate facilities for the welfare of employees carrying out their work; providing information, training, instructions and supervision to everyone, and monitoring the health of workers and the conditions of the workplace.
Keep up the dialogue
Worker engagement is a central concept of this new legislation, and you must be having regular conversations with staff, so that they are participating in the improvement of workplace health and safety. It should be a two-way street – regardless of the size, nature or risk profile of your business. Even if you think the biggest injury likely to beset anyone in your workplace is a paper cut, you still need to actively involve your staff.
Remember, too, it’s extremely important you follow the correct procedure if there’s an injury in your workplace. Be sure to check Worksafe New Zealand’s notifiable event tool – www.worksafe.govt.nz - as you’re obliged to report all notifiable events to them. In the event of a serious incident, it’s always wise to also check in with your lawyer.
When it comes to compliance, Kiwi businesses have a fair bit on their plate. Ignoring it, though, doesn’t make it disappear – it just puts you more at risk and weighs you down. A really satisfying part of my job is seeing the sense of relief business clients enjoy when they get their compliance organised.
Whether you’ve let your workplace health and safety systems slide, you felt a pang of guilt reading about the importance of up-to-date employment contracts or something else entirely, don’t waste another moment’s energy – resolve to get it sorted.