Articles

Passed on 1 March 2017, the Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017 ("CCLA") represents a step taken by our Parliament to consolidate and modernise New Zealand's law relating to contracts and sales.  The CCLA will come into force on 1 September 2017. Read more

At one time or another, all businesses confront the unpleasant task of collecting outstanding fees for the services or products they have provided.  When a client refuses to pay an outstanding invoice, recovering the money due may turn into a drawn-out process, even when the amount owed appears un-contentious.  Engaging a solicitor to assist with the debt recovery process has the benefit of both impressing on the debtor your commitment to pursuing the debt and simplifying an otherwise frustrating process. Read more

The Construction Contracts Amendment Act 2015 is implementing a number of updates to the Construction Contracts Act 2002 ("the CCA").  The amendments are coming into force progressively between 1 December 2015 and 31 March 2017. Read more

Commenced on 4 April 2016, the new Health and Safety at Work Act ("the Act") replaced the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 which overhauled the way businesses and organisations must implement their health and safety policies.  The HSWA also put in place a new statutory regime to enforce compliance obligations. Read more

Issues on the “Zero Hour Contracts” for employees have been topical in the lead up to the Employment Standards Legislation Bill (“the Bill”), which is due to be passed on 1 April 2016.  Read more

The enactment of the Health and Safety Reform Bill is expected to occur in April 2015. Significant changes to the workplace health and safety framework will require preparation now to ensure compliance.  Read more

The minimum contribution rate for employers and employees has increased from 2% to 3% of gross salary or wages from the first pay period commencing on or after 1 April 2013.  Read more

As you may be aware from recent media reports, changes to the Employment Relations Act 2000 (ERA) and Holidays Act 2004 (HA) have now been passed into law and, for the most part, came into effect on 1 April 2011.  Read more

All too often an employer may claim it had fair grounds for the actions it took to dismiss or discipline an employee, but did so too quickly or used a one sided process, and in doing faces a difficultly in justifying its actions before an Employment Relations Authority.  In this article James D Turner, Partner, McVeagh Fleming lawyers, looks at the opportunity for an employer to consider bringing a counterclaim and two recent cases holding employees responsible for their conduct. Read more