November 2018 Update
20 November 2018
November 2018 update
Business continuity
The 6.2 earthquake that rocked a large part of NZ last week is another timely reminder that we all need to be prepared and our disaster recovery and business continuity plans should be reviewed regularly.
If you had a change of staff in the last 12 months, have you updated the emergency contact details? How long is it since you changed your stored water, or checked the expiry dates on your food supplies?
Encourage your staff to have a family plan, and the Civil Defence website has plenty of good information to help families plan where they will meet, who will collect children from school or day care, and what they should include in their emergency supplies.
Domestic Violence - Victim Protection Act
The Domestic Violence – Victim Protection Act will come into effect on 1 April 2019. The purpose of the Act is to provide people affected by domestic violence a minimum entitlement to paid leave to assist with dealing with the effects.
The legislation will allow employees affected by domestic violence
- an additional 10 days leave per entitlement year (after the initial 6-month criteria)
- to request short term variation to their working arrangements for not longer than 2 months. Requests must be dealt with in the same way as any request under the Flexible Working arrangements
Domestic violence leave can be requested if the employee has been affected by domestic violence, regardless of how long ago the violence occurred, even if it is prior to the current employment.
Other recent articles
11 June 2025
What do you need to do when you receive a resignation.
An employee resigns by giving you notice. This will usually be in writing but may sometimes be done verbally. If the employee resigns verbally, you should request that they put their resignation in writing. If written notice is not provided, you should write to them and record their verbal resignation.
8 April 2025
A week in the life of HealthyPractice
So what does an average week look like for us? We review about 50-60 Individual Employment Agreements, contracts for service and letters of offer. Things we commonly adjust include: Agreement type e.g. fixed term, or casual that should be permanent part time Hours of work Trial period dates – remember the notice period can be shorter for this and we recommend 3 days to one week. Letter of offer details don’t match the IEA
13 May 2025
90-day trial periods
Over the last month we have had quite a few queries about 90-day trial periods. These questions have included their validity when there have been paid training days. Paid training days before formalising employment complicates things. Once you pay someone for undertaking work they are seen as an employee, and at this stage you haven’t provided the applicant with any terms and conditions of work in their employment agreement. Having a signed agreement before starting work is a legislative requirement.
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