The Employment Relations Act 2000 ("ERA") comes into force on 2 October 2000. The following are answers to some frequently asked questions regarding the new Act.

What happens to existing employment contracts?

Existing individual employment contracts continue in force according to their terms, and are enforceable in the Employment Relations Authority and Employment Court.

Existing collective employment contracts also continue in force according to their terms, but are treated from some purposes as if they are a collective agreement made under the ERA.

If employees covered by the collective employment contract are union members, the employer or the union may conduct a secret ballot of such employees to determine by majority vote whether the expiry date in the collective employment contract should be brought forward to 1 July 2001, or another date after 1 July 2001.

What about new employees who commence work after 2 October 2000?

Under the ERA all individual employment agreements must be in writing. Employing employees on an oral agreement and a handshake is no longer permissible. The written employment agreement must include:

In addition, employers must, before the individual agreement is signed:

These requirements mean that, after 2 October 2000, employers need to better plan the process by which employees are employed. The time frame between interviewing an employee for a position and the employee actually starting work may have to be extended to allow an employee a reasonable opportunity to seek advice about his or her employment agreement. Existing standard form employment contracts need to be reviewed to ensure they comply with the requirements of the ERA.

If there is an existing collective employment contract, does it have to be offered to new employees after 2 October 2000?

The answer depends on whether or not the collective employment contract contains a "subsequent parties" clause stating that new employees may join the collective contract. If it does, then employees continue to have the right to join the collective contract if they wish. If it does not, then it does not have to be offered to new employees.

What happens to the personal grievance and dispute procedures in existing employment contracts after 2 October 2000?

All personal grievance and dispute procedures in existing employment contracts are, from 2 October 2000, of no effect. Under the ERA, personal grievances and disputes are specific types of "employment relationship problems". The Act does not contain a formal procedure for dealing with employment relationship problems like that found in the First and Second Schedules of the Employment Contracts Act. This appears to be deliberate as there are various references in the ERA to the need for problem solving procedures to be "flexible" and that "access to both information and mediation services is more important than adherence to rigid formal procedures." Instead, the ERA provides for a problem solving regime involving quick and easy access to mediation services and, if the problem cannot be resolved by mediation, the ability to refer the problem to the Employment Relations Authority for determination.