Your rights: Agreements don't have to be signed

My colleagues and I were given new individual employment agreements to sign last year. After lengthy discussions we accepted the terms being offered. However, we have yet to receive a final copy for signing.

In most cases we are undertaking tasks/duties contained in our 'new' agreements, but not included in the current agreement. Should we have revised contracts to sign?

You believe you have agreed new terms of employment with your employer, but these have not been recorded in writing in their final form, or signed.

Although all employment agreements are now required to be in writing, thousands of employees still work without written agreements. So what is the status of an unwritten employment agreement? Were new terms agreed?

First, the situation depends on whether you have in fact agreed new terms with your employer or whether you are still negotiating. If you already have a written agreement, you would generally need clear evidence of a new or varied agreement if you want to rely on it.

From what you say, it seems you were offered some new draft terms of employment. You say after some negotiation agreement was reached on the new terms. That many of you are working under the new terms supports this view.

If one of the parties suggested a change to any of the new terms and the other party has not yet agreed to that change, then you are still negotiating. But if it is clear that new terms were offered to you and clear that you both agreed to those terms and to any changes either of you suggested to those terms, then it is likely negotiations have finished and new terms have been agreed.

The Employment Relations Act 2000 (ERA) requires all individual employment agreements to be in writing. There is no requirement for them to be signed. So you can insist your employer gives you a written employment agreement. If you already have an old written employment agreement, only the agreed changes to that old agreement need to be recorded in writing. This could simply be done by letter. You won't necessarily be given a fresh employment agreement.

That said, oral employment agreements are still valid and bind the parties. As explained above, there must be clear evidence that agreement was reached and clear evidence of the terms agreed to. If this is the case, then the new terms you say you have agreed to are valid and you and your employer are bound to comply with those new terms.

To get a written copy of your new terms, you can tell your employer all employment agreements must be in writing. If your employer still does not provide a written record of your new terms, these are your options:

* If you believe this is disadvantaging you, you could raise a personal grievance disadvantage claim. The cheapest, quickest method to resolve a claim would be mediation, which you can contact the Employment Relations Service about.

* You could ask the Employment Relations Authority for an order that the employer provide the agreement in writing.

* You could ask for an order from the Employment Relations Authority that your employer must comply with the new terms (if your employer is not complying with them).

THE EXPERT
Rani Amaranathan, a lawyer in the Auckland employment team of the Australasian law firm, Phillips Fox, answered this question.