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ARTICLE · 26 DECEMBER 2018

Legislative changes to NZ employment relations law

Duncan Cotterill
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There are significant prospective reforms in employment relations law, to come into effect over the next six months.

New ZealandEmployment and HR
Brian Nathan
Brian Nathan
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2018 has been a busy year of legislative change.

After almost a year long process, the Employment Relations Amendment Bill (Bill) has now passed into law. Looking ahead, this will create significant change for 2019 and we will be discussing this in our client seminars in the New Year. The Bill comes into force in three parts over the next 6 months as follows:

Changes now in force:  

  • Union representatives are able to access the workplace without consent where a collective agreement is in force or bargaining is taking place.
  • Unions are able to initiate bargaining 60 days before the collective agreement expires.
  • Employers are no longer be able to opt of out bargaining for a Multi-Employer Collective Agreement (MECA), however, there is no duty to conclude a MECA.

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