Welcome to the third edition of the Federated Farmers Employment Bulletin, your dedicated employment newsletter. This edition we would like to emphasise the importance of record keeping and the very real need to have a written agreement in place for any contractor who works on your farm. Having these contracts in place ensures both parties know what is expected of each other and most importantly details where the responsibilities lie for payment of ACC levies and health and safety compliance.  It's a real risk so make sure you are covered! 

To purchase employment contacts and agreements at member only reduced rates, click here. The August edition of the Employment Bulletin also covers some great topics from writing job descriptions to the clean slate legislation and job abandonment. Please contact us if you have any questions about employment matters or any of the articles, remember you can call us for free on 0800 327 646. 

Some employers may disagree, but you should call a candidate as soon as you have determined that they are not the right person for the job. Many employers wait until the end, even as long as it takes for a new employee to start the job, before they notify unsuccessful candidates. This can be seen as disrespectful and not in keeping with the actions of a fair and reasonable employer. Let candidates know as soon as you know, otherwise candidates wait, fret and feel as if their candidacy disappeared into a dark hole like their feelings about you as a potential employer will also.

All employment agreements must contain a description of the work to be performed by the employee. A job description can also be useful for deciding the scope of the work, advertising the job and clarifying what applicants will have to do in the job. It can also help to assess a new recruit's performance and determine training needs. The job description is basically an outline of how the job fits in to the business and it should point out in broad terms the job's goals, responsibilities and duties. A good start is to first write down the job title and whom that person will report to. Then develop a job statement or summary describing the position's major and minor duties.

And clean slate legislation

The Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Act is designed to allow individuals with less serious convictions, who have been conviction-free for seven years and have met the eligibility criteria set out in the Act, become an ‘eligible individual'. Becoming an eligible individual means the person is deemed to have no criminal record for the purposes of any question asked of them, meaning they may respond by saying that they have no convictions. There are two situations where disclosure of convictions is protected:

• In ‘safety' sensitive areas, namely positions of national security.
• In positions involving the care and protection of a child or a young person

The Act only applies to New Zealand so individuals must disclose convictions if required to do so by another country's law, such as applications for visas or other immigration matters.

Termination by employer or employee?

The Federated Farmers Individual Employment Agreement  has an ‘abandonment clause' which provides that where an employee fails to attend work for a period of days, usually three, without reasonable explanation, the employee will be deemed to have abandoned employment. Before determining whether an employee has abandoned their employment or not, an employer is required to inquire as to the reasons for the employee's absence. Assuming none are forthcoming or contact cannot be made and abandonment applies, this may result in the termination of employment. Employers should avoid written confirmation of an abandonment, which includes any statement indicating that for example ‘due to your abandonment of your employment, you are given notice that your employment is being terminated'. In a genuine abandonment situation, the employee has abandoned employment and by doing so has chosen to terminate the employment relationship. The employer may confirm the abandonment, but to make any additional statement indicating the termination results from the employer's action is unnecessary and could have the potential to create liability for the employer. As abandonment applies in fairly limited situations, we suggest you seek advice before relying on the abandonment clause.

Role being redefined and powers to be increased

Currently the work of labour inspectors is not defined in statute, but the role of labour inspectors will be defined as being to investigate complaints and support businesses to achieve compliant practices and systems. Inspectors will have a wider range of tools and will have the power to enter into agreements with employers and improvement notices are similar to notices that inspectors can issue under the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992. Changes proposed include enabling labour inspectors to seek penalty action for non-production of employment agreements thus reinforcing the importance of written employment agreements in employment relationships.