The article departs from the theme in this issue of the ICCLL&IR that there has been a 'withdrawal' of the common law courts from areas of labour law regulated by statute, using the rationale that they should not intervene in such areas even if there is no explicit statutory exclusion relating to the point at issue. The article considers the role played by the New Zealand Court of Appeal following the neoliberal reforms to labour law by the Employment Contracts Act 1991. It argues that the Court, rather than 'withdrawing', actively intervened in the development of the law to reinforce the neoliberal reforms and to ensure that the bipartite values that had characterized labour law for most of the twentieth century were displaced by the unitary values of the common law. While approaching the topic from a different perspective, the conclusion is much the same: the courts consistently decline to extend the common law in ways which would have enhanced employee rights against employers, an inhibition noticeably absent when extending the range and scope of duties owed by employees to their employers. This article argues that if employment relationships are to balance adequately the relationship between capital and labour, the autonomy of labour law must be increased through a greater codification, the reinforcement of specialist courts and the minimization of the intrusion of the common law courts into their jurisdiction.

Derived from the renowned multi-volume International Encyclopaedia of Laws, this monograph on New Zealand not only describes and analyses the legal aspects of labour relations, but also examines labour relations practices and developing trends. It provides a survey of the subject that is both usefully brief and sufficiently detailed to answer most questions likely to arise in any pertinent legal setting. Both individual and collective labour relations are covered in ample detail, with attention to such underlying and pervasive factors as employment contracts, suspension of the contracts, dismissal laws and covenant of non-competition, as well as international private law. The author describes all important details of the law governing hours and wages, benefits, intellectual property implications, trade union activity, employers’ associations, workers’ participation, collective bargaining, industrial disputes, and much more. Building on a clear overview of labour law and labour relations, the book offers practical guidance on which sound preliminary decisions may be based. It will find a ready readership among lawyers representing parties with interests in New Zealand, and academics and researchers will appreciate its value in the study of comparative trends in laws affecting labour and labour relations.

The New Zealand Employment Law Guide contains practical and easy-to-read coverage of employment law, together with precise references to statutory instruments and case law. It provides a comprehensive overview of an expanding and changing field of law, as well as directions for further investigation of specific issues. The Guide discusses employment law from both individual and collective perspectives. It covers the law on employment relations, employment agreements, working hours, remuneration, disputes, grievances, termination of employment, health and safety, discrimination and privacy. Significant decisions of the Employment Relations Authority and the courts are used to show how employment law is interpreted and applied in real life. A model individual employment agreement is included for readers to adapt to their needs, plus an outline collective agreement and the text of official codes of practice. This edition is based on the law in effect at 1 January 2013, together with key case decisions and developments in practice to that date.

This book offers a critical and timely account of how labour law has become a means for protecting employers rather than workers. The past few decades have witnessed something of a ‘silent revolution’ in the traditional protective role that labour law has played in the lives of workers. While this transformation has been overt in the realm of the market and at the level of the legislature, the role of the judiciary in this process remains significantly under-studied. Focussing on Australia, but drawing also on material from New Zealand, the UK and Canada, this book investigates how the common law has intervened to shape labour law in the image of commercial contract, determining disputes and defining legal issues by ignoring the realities of working life. Under this new conception of labour law, industrial relations between workers and employers are rarely reciprocal or relational. Rather, they are determined by the legal meaning and purpose of the contract of employment, drafted by lawyers for the benefit of employers and their human resources departments. Having demonstrated how approaches to contractual formalist legal reasoning have redefined labour law, this book goes on to propose an array of innovative legal and policy strategies to restore the protective role of labour law to the employment relationship. Scholarly, but also accessible to students, this book will appeal to those with interests in labour law, contract law and sociolegal studies.

"This plain-language guide outlines and discusses the laws which govern employment relations including the duties and obligations of employers and employees, negotiating employment agreements, collective bargaining, health and safety at work, hours of work, pay and conditions, holidays, termination, disputes and grievances, discrimination, information privacy, and much more. The Guide uses decisions of the Employment Court, the Employment Relations Authority and other courts and tribunals to show how employment laws and agreements are interpreted and applied in real life. The guide is revised annually, so the law and decisions it reports are right up to date. The 2021 edition contains details of more than 20 Acts of Parliament which govern employment relations and employment practices. Reports the impact of employment law changes which took effect during 2020 and others due to come into force during 2021. Includes important recent decisions from the Employment Court and the Employment Relations Authority. The Guide is an essential reference for anyone involved or interested in employment relations or employment law." -- Provided by publisher.

The first significant evaluation of the controversial Employment Relations Act 2000, which completely changed the Industrial/Labor Relations landscape in New Zealand.

This practical, plain-language guide outlines and explains the laws which govern all aspects of employment relations including the duties and obligations of employers and employees, individual bargaining and employment agreements, collective bargaining and collective agreements, health and safety, working hours, remuneration, holidays, termination, disputes and grievances, discrimination, information and privacy, and much more. Key decisions from the Employment Court, the Employment Relations Authority and other courts and tribunals are used to show how employment laws and agreements are interpreted and applied.