Holidays Act 2003 to be overhauled
Both employers and employees will be relieved that the government is prioritising overhauling this legislation.
“Change has been a long time coming, and I know there are many who are frustrated with the Holidays Act. We need an Act that businesses can implement, and that makes it easy for workers to understand their entitlements,” said the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety, Brooke van Velden.
The government will develop an exposure draft of the new legislation for consultation. It has indicated that the previous government’s decision to double sick leave entitlements for all eligible workers has caused difficulties to some businesses and increased the disparity between part-time and full-time workers. As well, employers have long struggled with apportioning annual leave; an accrual system is mooted, rather than the current entitlements system.
It is expected that the exposure draft of the Holidays Bill will be released for targeted consultation in September. “I believe it is important to hear from small businesses in particular, given small businesses will adopt a range of working arrangements and often do not have the same payroll infrastructure as larger organisations,” the Minister added.
Although registration for targeted consultation closed on 8 July, we will keep you up-to-date with how this new legislation progresses.
Roadside drug testing to be rolled out
In May, the Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, indicated the government will introduce legislation that will enable roadside drug testing to improve road safety.
“Alcohol and drugs are the number one contributing factor in fatal road crashes in New Zealand. In 2022, alcohol and drugs contributed to 200 fatal crashes on our roads. Despite this, only 26% of drivers think they are likely to be caught drug driving,” said the Minister.
The legislation is likely to be introduced mid-2024 and passed towards the end of the year.
Visual artists will receive royalties when work on-sold
Long-awaited legislation that comes into force on 1 December 2024 will allow New Zealand’s visual artists to receive royalties when their work is sold on the secondary market.
Passed in August last year, the Resale Right for Visual Artists Act 2023 will enable the collection of a 5% royalty each time an eligible artist’s work is sold on the secondary art market. The scheme is for artworks that sell for $1,000 or more. The collection agency, Copyright Licensing New Zealand, will deduct a percentage of the royalty as an administrative fee.
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Copyright, NZ LAW Limited, 2022. Editor: Adrienne Olsen. E-mail: [email protected]. Ph: 029 286 3650