News

Understanding your holiday obligations and payments

The lead up to Christmas can be a stressfull time for businesses and employees as work loads and other commitments are juggled and finances come under strain. It's a good time to remind ourselves of our legal responsibilities regarding holiday pay over the coming months.

Make sure you and your mates come home safe this duck shooting season

With duck shooting just around the corner we have a few tips that can help keep you and your mates safe over the duck shooting season.

Tip One: Get to know your property

The section of a farm where a maimai or pond is located may be excluded, provided there are no workers  in the paddocks where duck shooting is being carried out or in the paddocks that the shooter accesses to get to the pond or maimai.

Are you looking for skilled dairy farm workers?

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" We love to source fantastic candidates and discover the right people"

Southland is one of the highest performing dairy regions in NZ. This stunning region attracts talented agricultual employees with it's great lifestyle and premium earning opportunities.

HOW CAN WE HELP?

We have a talent pool of job seeker candidates specific to the dairy industry who can fill your employment needs.

We have conducted a full screening process and pre populated expressions of interest to the following roles:

- Farm Manager

- Herd Manager

2016 Leptospirosis surge in New Zealand: A cause for concern

After an entire year of zero infections throughout the entire country in 2015, Northland farmers have reported 7 definite, and one probable, cases of leptospirosis infection in 2016.  This surge in the infection rate has alarm bells ringing at WorkSafe NZ who have been urged by the Medical Office of Health to spread awareness to NZ farmers of the spike in infections.

Duck Shooters - new health and safety laws shouldn't limit duck shooters enjoyment this season

Agribusiness Health and Safety Specialist Melissa Vining, wants to assure duck shooting enthusiasts and farmers that the new health and safety legislation should not curtail their enjoyment this opening weekend of the season.

"Farmers can rest assured that despite several changes to the legislation that came into force earlier this month, there is no danger of cancellation nor lengthy form filling interfering with their favourite season of the year, " says Melissa Vining - Health and Safety Consultant with Progressive Consulting.

Trial Periods: what is required, and how to safely dismiss

Trial periods are available to all employers for new employees for the first 90 days of employment, and are a helpful tool because they allow employers to dismiss without recourse to a personal grievance claim for unjustified dismissal.

However, there are a number of requirements that must be met in order for the trial period to be safely relied upon to dismiss, and the Courts strictly interpret these requirements because they limit employee rights.

Requirements

Zero Hour Contract Constrictions

A law change restricting zero hour contracts becomes effective from 1 April 2016, following amendments to the Employment Relations Act 2000 ("Act").

Health & Safety Regulations released: What you need to know about the new control hierarchy

A raft of new regulations to support the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (Act) were released recently, covering general risk and workplace management, worker engagement, participation and representation, major hazards, asbestos, as well as infringement fees and more specific topics like mining and adventure activities.

Employment Standards Legislation Bill Passes

The Employment Standards Legislation Bill was passed last week and comes into effect 1 April 2016, changing the following five key employment laws:

  • Employment Relations Act 2000
  • The Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987
  • Minimum Wage Act 1983
  • Holidays Act 2003
  • Wages Protection Act 1983

The impact of the new law includes:

The Perfect Time for Business Development

The latest fall in the Global Dairy Trade has put further pressure on Fonterra's pay-out forecast and options for reducing farm working expenses will be front of mind.  Although times are difficulty on farm, we'd like to remind our clients of a quote from Winston Churchill:

 

"Difficulties mastered are opportunities won."