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We recently hosted the “What’s on the Horizon for 2025?” webinar covering upcoming and anticipated changes for employment, immigration and health and safety law, and summarise what was discussed below, including various bills progressing through Parliament and policy announcements.

Restraint of Trade Prohibition – Bill

Currently at its second reading, this Bill includes a proposal to prohibit the use of restraint of trades in employment agreements for lower and middle-income employees. If passed, it may make it easier for employees to change jobs while employers may find it easier to attract talent from competitors – however, employers would also lose the right to protect against competition with exiting employees.

However, this Bill is not progressing with any urgency – it was introduced by the Labour Government.

Employee Remuneration Disclosure – Bill

This Bill proposes to prohibit employers from preventing employees from discussing remuneration, by removing the right to have confidentiality clauses in employment agreements around this. Under this Bill, employees would be empowered to bring a personal grievance claim against their employer if they are subjected to adverse conduct for disclosing their remuneration. The Bill is currently at the Selection Committee and submissions are closed. We can expect that a second reading will happen sometime this year.

Pay Deductions for Partial Strikes Reintroduced – Bill

After the last Government removed it, the current Government have reintroduced pay deductions for partial strikes. Partial strikes usually involve employees coming to work but refusing to partake in key aspects of the job. This will allow for some recourse for employers when there is a reduction in the normal output of work, which has become popular industrial action.  The trick for employers will be what proportionate deduction is appropriate, which can be hard to establish given the scope of the partial strike can be hard to scope, and may see a more popular choice being the 10% deduction which is the fallback option per the Bill.

This Bill has been referred to the Select Committee under urgency, and the report is due on 22 April 2025.

Removing Rewards for Poor Employee Behaviour – Policy

The Government has discussed a policy move to preclude for employees who engaged in serious misconduct or contributory behaviour from obtaining remedies or being reinstated. There is no Bill, at this stage.

Introduction of Income Threshold Limits for Personal Grievances  – Policy

Further to our update on this policy discussion, we await a Bill which would seek to exclude employees earning over $180,000 salary each year from raising personal grievances for unjustified dismissal.  We can expect this to be introduced and to move through the House this year.  The key issues this raises are whether there would be alternative options for those employees to challenge dismissal, for example, in the civil jurisdiction, and can expect also more negotiation for high income earners over exit packages and dispute resolution procedures to be included in their Individual Employment Agreements.   Employers will likely also consider remuneration packages, and may for example wish to move at risk components of remuneration into salary to make the most of the exclusion.

Termination of Employment by Agreement – Bill

This Bill is expected to start its move through the Parliamentary process this year, with a proposal to enable employment relationships to end by mutual agreement. This would reduce disputes and the associated costs as there would be fewer personal grievances raised. It may allow for a more open conversation when an employment relationship isn’t working out. These exits will include compensation for the departing employee, and has strong government support.

New Test for Employee vs Independent Contractor – Policy

In September 2024 the Workplace Relations and Safety Minister announced a new gateway test for employers to determine if a worker is an employee or an independent contractor, although as yet we do not have a Bill. The Policy announcement explained that the new test simplifies the process by providing a clear criteria to make the determination.  If all of the following criteria are met, the worker will be a contractor:

• there is a written agreement that specifies the worker is an independent contractor; and
• the worker is not restricted from working for others; and
• the worker is:
  • not required to be available to work certain times, days or for a minimum period; OR
  • able to sub-contract the work, and
• the business does not terminate the agreement for not accepting an additional task.

The biggest issue here is that in our experience most contractor arrangements do not meet the current criteria.  We recommend employers review their contractor arrangements, to ensure the risk of successful challenge to the relationship which currently exists is managed.  We also can expect there to be challenge to contractor arrangements, but in the civil jurisdiction, with these excluded from MBIE support and challenge in the Employment Relations Authority.

Immigration Changes

Changes to immigration upcoming in 2025 include:

• Increasing visa duration for those who hold the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV)
• Enabling visitors to work remotely without breaching visa conditions
• New Entry Pathways for seasonal workers
• Greater work rights for those on interim visas
• The Active Investor Plus Visa to attract investors into New Zealand
• Big changes to the AEWV, which you can read more about here: New Zealand Accredited Employer Work Visa changes for 2025 – Copeland Ashcroft

Significant Changes Yet to Come

The Minister has indicated that she intends to completely reform the Holidays Act before the end of the current Government’s term. While the proposal has not yet been released, the main theme is that simplicity is the main priority.

The Minister also recently consulted on the poor-performing Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 and is on a mission to correct it soon.

We encourage you to follow us on LinkedIn and our Intouch articles that we post for any updates in these areas!

Managing Psychosocial Risks

We offered an explanation of employer’s obligations to manage the psychosocial risks in the workplace. For more information you can read our article here: WorkSafe Consultation on Managing Psychosocial Risks – Copeland Ashcroft.

Moving forward

With the large amount of change to, it can be hard for employers to ensure they are within their legal obligations. We are available to offer advice about what employers can do to navigate the changing legislative landscape and how to anticipate the future.

Please contact our team for support with:

• Workforce planning and immigration – view our fixed price offer here
• Closely reviewing your contractor arrangements to ensure the risk of challenge to these is managed
• Ensuring your employment policies and agreements are up to date
• Bespoke training on any area of workplace law
• Mental health and wellbeing support – view our fixed price offer here

Disclaimer: We remind you that while this article provides commentary on employment law, health and safety and immigration topics, it should not be used as a substitute for legal or professional advice for specific situations. Please seek legal advice from your lawyer for any questions specific to your workplace.