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Ageing population will drive up wages
Expect to pay much more for haircuts and healthcare in future, as the population ages, but the ageing population will also hurt the manufacturing sector.
For businesses, an ageing population will shrink the future pool of workers as a fraction of society.
"That drives up wages as firms bid for talent," an independent NZIER report on the ageing population says.
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Woman stole from employer to feel better
A 26-year-old Balclutha woman stole food from her employer because she was feeling down and taking the items had given her a lift, the Balclutha District Court was told this week.
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Youth wage bill passes by a single vote
Employers will be able to pay 16-to-19-year-olds in new jobs $11 an hour after a controversial bill was passed into law by one vote.
Unions immediately decried the adoption of a youth wage, which is nearly $3 below the minimum wage, but the National-led Government argued it would increase opportunities for young people.
National, Act and United Future backed the move to allow a "starting-out wage" to be set at no less than 80 per cent of the minimum wage for young people - $11 at current rates. Employers will be able to apply it from May 1.
Pharmacy workers paid below minimum wage - court
A former Dunedin pharmacy owner has been ordered to pay thousands of dollars in wage arrears to three workers who were paid less than the minimum wage.
In her written judgement, Employment Court Judge Christina Inglis said she did not accept Ravi Vohora's argument that the three women were effectively in training as pharmacy technicians from the day they started their duties at the former Maori Hill and Balmacewen Pharmacy.
Harassed women work harder, study finds
Women who face rude and disrespectful behaviour in the workplace tolerate it and react by working harder.
This has been found as part of research done by Edith Cowan University and the University of New England.
ECU school of psychology and social science senior lecturer Dr Jennifer Loh said while women often had to deal with more negative behaviour than men, men reacted by withdrawing.
Men who are treated rudely tended to react by taking longer breaks away from work and taking spurious sick days.
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Canoodling worker unfairly dismissed
A Nelson retirement village worker sacked for canoodling with the gardener was unfairly dismissed, the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) has ruled.
Deborah Hoff, a senior caregiver at The Wood Retirement Village, was caught kissing and cuddling a former employee in a vacant apartment.
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Maternity leave breaches alleged
Pregnant women and mothers returning to work from maternity leave are facing illegal discrimination and losing their jobs.
In the past two years the Human Rights Commission (HRC) has received 102 complaints on pregnancy and employment, with 37 about redundancy, parental leave, and being declined a job because of pregnancy.
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Boozy night not enough for sacking
Airways Corporation has been ordered to reinstate a Tauranga-based air traffic tower manager, who lost her job after her booze-fuelled night out with two subordinates saw police called.
But airways does not have to reinstate Michele Dumble until her husband, Tauranga airport manager Ray Dumble, "resolves" an "abusive" phone call he made to an airways employee as a result of the sacking, an Employment Relations Authority (ERA) decision stated.
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Teamwork vital for top performance
Some of the top listed companies in New Zealand and Australia may not be as hot as they might think they are.
That is what Dr Denis Mowbray, director of Christchurch's Gryphon Governance Consultants, has found in researching his doctoral thesis through AUT University's centre for governance research.
Mowbray found that of 64 NZX 50 and ASX 50 companies and not- for-profit organisations surveyed, less than 20 per cent qualified as "high-performing" when assessed against a number of standard measures.
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Teen sacked for taking pokie cash wins $13k
An 18-year-old bar worker sacked for taking $12 of unclaimed pokie machine winnings as a tip has been awarded more than $13,000 compensation for being unfairly dismissed.
The teenager, Jamie Gwen Hammond, was awarded the compensation after an Employment Relations Authority found a former manager at the Grosvenor Hotel in Timaru had trained Ms Hammond to take any pokie machine winnings that were unclaimed.
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Road rage banker Hallwright won't get job back
Road rage investment analyst Guy Hallwright will not be reinstated by his employer after he drove over a man, breaking his legs.
Hallwright had argued before the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) he should not be held accountable for the "sensationalist" media coverage of the criminal conviction which cost him his $485,000-a-year job.
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Mike Ashby: Being small is no reason to be slack and unprofessional
Small businesses can learn a lot from the way their larger counterparts go about things, writes Mike Ashby.
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Labourers lose jobs to prisoners
A Kaiapoi business fired five of its labourers two days after employing 11 convicts - and then made the workers train the inmates who were to replace them, current and former staff say.
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Ex-employer 'will not pay'
A Palmerston North accountant touting herself as having "unique insight into the joys and perils" of staff-related issues is refusing to say why she has failed to pay two former employees thousands of dollars, as ordered by the Employment Relations Authority.
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Mediation often best
Mediation is an important tool in dispute resolution, and when it comes to employment relationship problems. For certain employment matters, mediation will be the best and least expensive option.
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Minimum wage to increase by 25c
Labour Minister Simon Bridges today announced the minimum wage is to rise to $13.75.
This is a 25 cent increase on the current wage of $13.50, despite calls for the wage to rise to $15 an hour.
The training and new entrants' minimum wages will increase from $10.80 to $11, which is 80 per cent of the adult minimum wage.
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Stop the part-time worker prejudice
Part-time work is concentrated in industries that are female dominated – trade, accommodation, health, culture, recreation and education.
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Dismissal of cafe cook ruled unjust
A Twizel cafe has had to pay out $7500 to a cook it unjustifiably dismissed last year.
The Employment Relations Authority decision ordered Pieter and Nyree Schaar of Lake Ohau Holdings, which owns the Musterers Hut Cafe, to pay Melissa Spence $7500 in compensation as she was "unjustifiably disadvantaged and unjustifiably dismissed".
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Boss told to pay accused 'neo-Nazi' $35,000
A company that fired a woman from its Wakefield office for allegedly being a Nazi sympathiser has been ordered to pay her more than $35,000.
The owner of the company, Tony Katavich, said today he would appeal the "ridiculous decision" in the Employment Court.
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US model must pay fired NZ nanny compo
A nanny fired by an international model whose five children complained she swore at them and drove too fast has been awarded almost $6000 for unfair dismissal.
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