KEY POINTS:
Q. What is the new bill and how does it work?
A. The Employment Relations (Flexible Working Arrangements) Amendment Act 2007 will give eligible employees the right to ask to vary their hours, days, or place of work. Eligible employees must be caring for someone and must have been with their employer for six months. The employee must explain how the variation will help him or her to care better for the person. Employers must consider the request but may refuse a request on certain grounds. Help will be available from the Department of Labour (DoL), and the act provides a process for resolving disputes, if an employee believes the employer has wrongly determined he or she is not eligible, or has not followed the correct process. The first step is to talk with the employer. Employees can then contact the DoL for options. If the employee is still dissatisfied, the department can provide mediation. If no resolution is agreed through mediation, the employee may ask the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) to determine if the employee is eligible, or if the employer has followed the correct process.
Q. Employees will have a right to request. Is there any obligation on employers to do anything about it, and do I need to have children?
A. Employers must consider the request for flexible working arrangements using the process in the act. There are only certain grounds for refusal. The person being cared for does not need to be related to you.
Q. Why can't existing rules cover this, and does this mean more people working from home?
A. The act says an employer must consider and respond in good faith to any employee requesting flexible working, But employers can refuse for any reason. This will not necessarily mean more people working from home.
Q. What practices are considered flexible working arrangements, and when does this come into effect?
A. Flexible working includes part-time work, reduced hours, job sharing, different start or finish times and working from home or elsewhere. The change may be permanent or temporary. The new law takes effect on July 1. The act won't affect the many employers who already offer their staff flexible working arrangements. Why does the act provide only a right to request, not an entitlement to, flexible working arrangements?
Giving employees an entitlement isn't practical as there isn't a one-size-fits-all answer. Working arrangements need to suit employers, the worker and their colleagues.
Q. What grounds can be given for refusing to accept a flexible working arrangement request?
A. There are eight grounds for refusing a request. These are: inability to reorganise work among existing staff; inability to recruit additional staff; detrimental impact on quality; detrimental impact on performance; insufficiency of work during the periods the employee proposes to work; planned structural changes; burden of additional costs; detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand.
Q. What if there's already a collective employment agreement in place?
A. The act requires employers to refuse any request if the request is inconsistent with the employee's collective agreement. However, the employer and worker can find an arrangement to suit them that is still consistent with the collective agreement.
On the web: www.dol.govt.nz/worklife
