Employment Law Key Issues

Employment law issues for businesses to deal with are many and varied. Join us for a highly engaging workshop where employment law experts will unpack many of the key issues that arise on a day-to-day basis, provide strategies for dealing with them, and discuss examples of employment situations that have gone wrong.

The workshop supports business owners, managers, and HR professionals in complying with their employment and immigration law obligations and ensuring their employment processes are robust.

It will cover an overview of the legal framework of employment law in New Zealand (including the key legislation to be aware of) before discussing a range of topics in more detail that can prove problematic for employers.

By taking a practical and interactive approach, attendees will have plenty of opportunity to apply their learning, share their thoughts and consider how these legal requirements relate to their own workplace.

• The different categories of employee and contractor and the different clauses and contractual documentation required for each type of relationship;

• Different types of leave, how they operate, and what employees' entitlements and obligations are;

• How to manage disciplinary and performance issues to ensure you meet your obligations as an employer; and

• The expectations for undertaking a fair restructure process and what constitutes a genuine business reason for doing so;

• To what extent employment law can regulate employee behaviour outside the workplace;

• What you need to know about employing migrants under current immigration settings; and

• Case law examples where things have gone wrong

• An improved understanding of a range of employment-related legislative and contractual provisions to ensure your business is meeting its obligations to employees;

• Be able to identify how to minimise the risk of misclassifying contractors as employees and develop greater understanding of the different types of employment relationship;

• Understand how to avoid common pitfalls and fish hooks in your employment processes;

• Know how to put your business in a good position to defend, and minimise the risk of, personal grievance claims;

• Know how to address employee behaviour outside the workplace; 

• Understand the Accredited Employer Work Visa and its relevant processes; and

• Understand how to manage employee leave and ensure you are paying employees correctly.

Ashley-Jayne (AJ) co-leads Anderson Lloyd's Employment team, providing practical, pragmatic solutions to often complex workplace issues.

AJ is an experienced investigator, having conducted workplace investigations, reviews, and other independent investigations in both the public and private sector. AJ is a certified Association of Workplace Investigators member and Certificate Holder (AWI-CH) and conducts independent investigations for both employers and other organisations. AJ has particular expertise investigating allegations of sexual harassment, sexual harm and violence, and inappropriate relationships, both in the workplace and other organisations, and allegations of bullying and harassment. She has experience with vulnerable witnesses, including minors. In addition to carrying out investigations as an independent investigator, AJ regularly advises employers in the public and private sector who are carrying out internal investigations. This includes advising on their employment law and natural justice obligations, as well as management of organisation culture and support throughout such investigations. AJ has assisted a number of internal HR professionals in preparing, reviewing, and implementing internal governance and procedural policies regarding whistleblowing and investigations.

AJ was selected as a 2022 NZ Lawyer Rising Star.

William advises on the full suite of employment law issues, including employment agreements and policies, personal grievances, disciplinary and performance improvement matters, restructures and redundancies, medical incapacity, bullying and harassment, and negotiated exits. William also specialises in privacy law, health and safety, and the nuances of the Holidays Act 2003. William has appeared as legal counsel at the Employment Relations Authority and Employment Court and regularly attends mediations. He takes a strong but pragmatic approach to resolving employment relationship problems.

Sam acts and advises in a wide variety of employment matters for employers and employees, including employment disputes and personal grievances, negotiated exits, disciplinary and performance processes, restructures and redundancies, health and safety, medical incapacity issues, and drafting of employment agreements and employment policies. Sam regularly attends mediations and has appeared in the High Court and District Court. He enjoys the problem-solving challenges and relationship nuances of employment matters and takes a considered and practical approach to resolving matters. 

Tash has been working in the immigration field for 12 years. Her experience includes immigration visa processing, technical and risk advice for the New Zealand Government and the management of immigration professionals in both the public and private sectors.

Tash specialises in corporate immigration for large New Zealand employers and multi-national companies. Due to her experience, she is also regularly instructed to act for clients in medical waiver, character waiver, special direction and employer compliance issues. With it becoming increasingly difficult for individuals and employers to navigate the ever-changing immigration rules, Tash would be happy to help make these immigration processes as straight-forward as possible.

"There was a wide range of information that met the needs of the broad spectrum people attending the course. It was a great help" - 2023

"The information provided by the speakers was clear and concise. This training has helped to clarify some of the concerns I deal with" - 2023

"This learnings from course will help with all aspects of my role to ensure proper process is followed" - 2023

"This course provided a great opportunity to connect with likeminded people. It allowed me to refresh myself on any law changes and provided a good reminder that you can never be too detailed" - 2023