The High Court has found that the Government's announcement of an Alert Level 4 'Lockdown' for four weeks from 26 March 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic was unlawful and potentially unenforceable for the first nine days (Borrowdale v Director-General of Health [2020] NZHC 2090). The Court also reviewed the closure of all non-essential businesses, which is significant for business owners hoping to file civil liability claims for lost revenue during this period.

The Covid-19 pandemic and the announcement of the Level 4 Covid-19 threat level in New Zealand has meant that many businesses may be forced to default on their commercial obligations, especially as non-essential businesses are told to close. However if their contracts contain a "force majeure" provision, this may provide them with a way out.

In response to the Covid-19 outbreak the Government has announced a $12.1 billion support package to support the economy. If you are an employer, contractor, sole-trader or self-employed, you may be eligible to apply for financial support.

Employment law can be a bit of a "political football", and with each new government one may expect changes to the Employment Relations Act 2000 ("Act"). Honouring that tradition, the new Labour and NZ First Government passed the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2018 on 5 December 2018. The Amendment Act strengthens union and employee rights at the expense of employer rights, including abolishing use of the 90-day trial period by employers with 20 or more employees.

One of the notable law reforms which was touted in Labour's election campaign has been unveiled in the Employment Relations Amendment Bill 2018 ("Bill") - the restriction on the use of the 90 day trial period.

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.

This article serves to inform the procedural and legal methods and issues related to debt recovery.

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.

At a press release on 24 March 2020 at 1.00 pm a spokesperson for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) said: "If you are in doubt whether you are an essential service, you're probably not".