Employment law changes: are you up-to-date?…
the government has introduced the Employment Standards Legislation Bill to Parliament.

Update on financial markets overhaul…
The Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 is in the process of completely overhauling New Zealand’s financial markets laws.

Incorporated societies reform ahead…
There are more than 23,500 incorporated societies in New Zealand that are currently governed by the Incorporated Societies Act 1908.

Employment law changes: are you up-to-date?

As noted in last year’s Spring edition, the government has introduced the Employment Standards Legislation Bill to Parliament. The Bill is working its way through the House, and is scheduled to become law on Friday, 1 April 2016. The legislation introduces important amendments to employment law; we’ve picked out two highlights:

• Zero hours contracts. The Bill addresses widespread concerns with zero hours contracts. The current position is that a zero hours contract contains a provision that your employee is required to be available to accept any work offered, but you as the employer have no obligation to offer work to your employee. The Bill makes such a provision unenforceable, unless the contract also provides for the payment of compensation to your employee for being available for work.
• Parental leave. The Bill includes significant amendments to the parental leave regime. Broadly, a wider range of employees will benefit. Employees will now be able to resign yet still receive parental leave payments (incidentally the maximum entitlement to parental leave pay will increase from 16 weeks to 18 weeks from 1 April 2016) and the threshold for benefitting from unpaid leave will change.

The Select Committee is expected to release its report on the Bill on 12 February 2016 (which will be helpful because there are a few gaps in the current wording). This will not leave you long to make any required changes to your employment practices; so keep an eye on developments over the coming weeks so you can act quickly before the proposals become law.

Update on financial markets overhaul

The Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 is in the process of completely overhauling New Zealand’s financial markets laws. We are currently approaching the end of the transition period in which our existing capital markets and financial services legislation, most notably the Securities Act 1978, is being phased out and replaced by the new Act. The Act is supported by regulations which set out the more detailed aspects of the new laws.

In November 2015, the Financial Markets Conduct Amendment Regulations 2015 were published, which supplement and amend the existing regulations. In many cases, the amendment regulations aim to deal with practical issues which were identified as the previous regulations were implemented.

Two key changes include new provisions relating to:

1. Simplified disclosure requirements for offers of certain debt and equity securities, and
2. New prescribed disclosure requirements for offers of financial products which will, or may, convert into other financial products.

If you are involved in financial markets (including issuing shares in a small business), we recommend that you seek advice on how the new laws may affect you.
The government continues to receive submissions and is expected to publish a further update later in 2016.

Incorporated societies reform ahead

There are more than 23,500 incorporated societies in New Zealand that are currently governed by the Incorporated Societies Act 1908. This legislation is now out-of-date in a number of key respects: it doesn’t provide clear direction on the rights, duties and obligations of those running societies; and it lacks procedures for dealing with conflicts of interests and disputes within societies.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has issued an exposure draft for new legislation to replace the 1908 Act. Amongst other things, the exposure draft:

• Prohibits societies being carried on for the financial gain of members
• Requires societies to maintain a minimum of 10 members
• Provides greater clarity around the governance of societies
• Sets minimum requirements for constitutions, requires dispute resolution procedures to be included in constitutions, and provides standard constitutional provisions for use by societies
• Provides for charitable societies to be incorporated under the new statute only (rather than under the Charitable Trusts Act 1957), and
• Gives the court new enforcement powers.

If you are involved with an incorporated society, further information is available here. If you’d like to make a submission on these proposed changes, the deadline is 30 June 2016. If you’d like any guidance with your submission, please be in touch.