Snippets

Submissions on Infant Feeding

Public submissions on the Draft Code of Employment Practice on Infant Feeding will be welcomed. the Minister of Labour Kate Wilkinson has announced.

The purpose of the Code is to provide employers with guidance on how to fulfil their obligations concerning the provision of breastfeeding breaks and facilities under the Employment Relations Act 2000.The Code includes suggestions about the types of issues that should be considered when negotiating an arrangement for infant feeding with an employee, and determining what arrangement would be reasonable and practicable in the circumstances.


Compulsory Redundancy Entitlements Bill

Labour MP, Daren Fenton's Bill to introduce compulsory redundancy entitlements (The Employment Relations (Statutory Minimum Redundancy Entitlements) Amendment Bill 65-1 (2009)) has been introduced into the house.

This Bill seeks to require the provision of no less than 4 weeks' notice of redundancy for all employees and in addition compensation based on a 4x2 formula (i.e. 4 weeks remuneration for the first full year of continuous service, plus two weeks remuneration for subsequent full or partial years of service) up to a maximum of 26 weeks. It is proposed these entitlements would only be available to employees employed for a year or more.

These proposals are based on the 2008 report by the Public Advisory group on Restructuring and Redundancy. Compulsory redundancy entitlements were considered by Helen Clark prior to the 2008 election but it was decided these could not be afforded. It seems clear businesses will be even less able to afford such costs in light of the current economic recession.

The Minister of Labour, Kate Wilkinson has said that these proposals are not a Government priority.

We will keep clients informed as to this Bill's progress