Fire at Will Bill
National's Fire at Will Bill is Wrong
Just days into the new Parliament and National has passed a law which allow employers to fire at will a worker in a small business in the first 90 days of employment, by removing unfair dismissal protections for a third of the workforce who are in small businesses.
It’s just not fair...
It is a fundamental right to be treated fairly at work. But the National-led Government has amended employment law to deny that right to a group of workers on the arbitrary basis of the number of workers in a workplace, and with the entirely misplaced reasoning it will help some people get jobs.
Now the law sets up a group of workers who have less rights than others, and facilitates employers firing people without even having shown the courtesy of telling them what went wrong. In essence it treats workers as though they are disposable.
Why reward bad behaviour by the boss?
You wouldn’t see small shops be given the right to opt out of consumer protection laws, or small property owners give the right to opt out of tenant protection laws - why would the government allow small businesses to opt out of protecting new workers?
Fair employers don’t need the law changed. This law only rewards bad practices and sends the message National will tolerate substandard management by those that won’t or can’t be bothered acting fairly.
A huge number of people will be affected...
The less than 20 employee threshold means potentially a third of the New Zealand workforce is exposed. Seven hundred thousand people start a new job in New Zealand every year – the CTU estimates 108,000 workers are in their first 90 days of employment with a small employer right now – that’s more than the entire population of Taranaki.
This law has been rushed...
The National government has pushed this law through Parliament in two days flat – denying the chance for the public to have their say at the select committee. And there’s no reason for the rush – the law doesn’t come into effect until March 2009.
National want to extend it to all workers...
The explanatory note at the start of the Bill says, “Extending this initiative to all employers would have a positive effect on labour market efficiency. Consideration could be given to evaluating the outcomes of this legislative change with a view to extending it to cover all employers in the future.” Small workplaces are only the beginning.
The changes raise further problems...
And the change raises many more questions such as…
• Can workers on a trial period access mediation? The Act only allows access to mediation for employees, but once you’re sacked you’re no longer an employee.
• Does the number of 20 workers include part-time workers, casuals and temps?
• What happens if businesses create smaller entities within their business so they can take advantage of and exploit the new law?
• What happens if an employer employs a new worker when they have 21 employees and another is employed when the workforce has dropped to 19? Will one worker be entitled to take a personal grievance and the other not?
• What protection will there be for young workers on youth rates who about to reach accumulation of hours worked to qualify for the full adult minimum wage?
• What happens when work is contracted out or a business is sold and the workers are engaged by the new employer? Can they be restarted on a 90-day trial?
• What does a worker who is dismissed under the new law tell their next employer or Work and Income when they apply for a benefit, when they may have been given no reason for their dismissal? 
