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Sometimes, an employee doesn’t have enough leave available to take paid leave when time off work is required for what would normally be a work day. As am employer, you can agree to the time off and not pay them for this time. This is usually called Leave Without Pay or LWOP. Leave without pay doesn’t end an employee’s agreement or change it, however, did you know that leave without…  Read more

Every year thousands of New Zealanders are called up to serve on a Jury, so if you have employees it is only a matter of time before one of them gets summoned for Jury Service. What should you do if this happens?   Talk to your employee Find out when they have been told to go for jury service and how long it may last. Discuss how it may affect…  Read more

From 1 July 2020, the duration of parental leave payments will extend from 22 weeks to 26 weeks and the maximum weekly rate for eligible parents will increase from $585.80 to $606.46 gross. The minimum payment rate for self-employed parents increases from $177.00 to $189.00 gross per week, which is equal to 10 hours of the current adult minimum wage. The number of ‘Keeping in Touch’ days will also increase…  Read more

As Christmas draws closer, here’s a quick list of five things as an employer you should be aware of when it comes to minimum legal employment rights. 1. Is closing down a workplace at Christmas legal? Yes. An Employer may close down a workplace if the processed is managed lawfully. Employees must be given at least 14 days’ notice of the closedown. An employer may have a regular closedown once…  Read more

So you’re ready to hire your first employee, congratulations! You’ve had subbies working for you for years, so what’s the big deal? Most tradies will one day find themselves in the position that they’ve got a good crew of guys who do an awesome job and they want to keep them happy. This awesome crew might still subcontract back to the head contractor (the business owner), which is always a…  Read more

The minimum adult wage is set to increase by $1.20 per hour in April. Are you prepared?

From time to time, the terms under which you have employed a team member originally may change. This could be as simple as giving them a payrise, or slightly more complicated such as changing from a permanent full time agreement to a casual basis. It’s important to document each change in writing to ensure you, and your employee, remain on the same page and understand the expectations of the employment…  Read more

The Domestic Violence – Victims Protection Bill has passed its third reading in Parliament. It aims to enhance legal protections in the workplace for people affected by domestic violence. The changes will come into effect on 1 April 2019. The new law entitles employees affected by domestic violence to up to 10 days of paid domestic violence leave per year, in order to deal with the effects of domestic violence.…  Read more

Auckland builders Juno Homes and EXP fined for serious employment breach Two Auckland building companies have been fined $7,500 for employment law breaches, as they failed to keep employment records or ensure workers were paid correct holiday pay. The firms then also failed to comply with a notice to fix issues that the Labour Inspectorate sent them in March 2017. Good employment relationships start with a good recruitment process so…  Read more

Bunnings NZ have announced it will back pay staff $11 million as part of its efforts to comply with the Holidays Act 2003. Paying employees annual leave (or holiday pay) can sometimes be a confusing business, especially when the Holiday Act can be challenging to even understand in the first place. There’s been a number of businesses recently in the media who have been subject to a 2016 government report…  Read more

Employers must make deductions for PAYE, ESCT (employer superannuation contribution tax) formerly SSCWT, student loan repayments, child support and KiwiSaver contributions when required, from any payments made to employees. Failure to do this is a serious offence and can result in penalties and fines being imposed. Anyone who knowingly fails to make deductions can be fined up to $25,000 for a first offence and $50,000 for subsequent offences. Shortfall penalties…  Read more

It pays to get those employment contracts right and ensure minimum contractual requirements are meet when hiring staff. From the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment 5 April 2018 A Christchurch business owner has been banned from hiring staff for three years after he was found to have intentionally and persistently breached employment law. The former owner of Christchurch bar and eatery, Watershed Bar and Restaurant, and restaurant, Sequoia 88, and the…  Read more

The payroll landscape is constantly changing, and not just for businesses and staff, but those of us who have responsibility of ensuring employees pay is correct.  The Payday Reporting legislation is currently before parliament and proposes to change the way payroll information is reported to the IR. Currently reporting is done on a monthly basis by way of filing our PAYE returns (EMS and EDF schedules along with Kiwisaver forms).…  Read more

Payroll is one of the most important tasks of running a business and can be pretty intimidating with the screeds of legislation to trawl through. For many NZ employers, organising it all can be a bit of a struggle – especially when trying to juggle complex government requirements, tricky leave calculations and Kiwisaver and paperwork. We have compiled a list of the top 6 payroll mistakes employers make when employing staff:…  Read more

Payroll is one of the most important tasks of running a business and can be pretty intimidating with the screeds of legislation to trawl through. For many NZ employers, organising it all can be a bit of a struggle – especially when trying to juggle complex government requirements, tricky leave calculations and Kiwisaver. Regardless of the size or complexity of your business, Ontrack Payroll has you sorted work hard to make your payroll easy as possible for…  Read more

Talking about payroll and leave entitlements causes people to run and hide and brings on headaches of gigantic proportions. How on earth is the average business owner meant to understand what their obligations are?  Confused?  I am not surprised! Let me try and explain… 1. Annual leave accrues in weeks not hours The Act provides two dimensions for annual leave – time and money. The time dimension, 4 weeks, accrues at the end…  Read more

Contractor tax changes (Information courtesy of Business.govt) All contractors can have tax deducted from their pay at a rate of their choosing, and some MUST now do this. If you get it wrong, you might find your pay packet is 45% lighter than you expect. If their payer agrees, all contractors can now have tax deducted from their pay at a flat rate of their choosing.  All Contractors hired by…  Read more

I know, its a confusing topic right? There are so many questions! How does the average New Zealander figure it out? Well, hopefully we can help unravel the mystery of the Contractor versus Employee confusion. In a nutshell, an employee is said to have a “contract of service” with an employer, while a contractor is said to have a “contract for service”. Why the difference is important An employee is engaged…  Read more