Wage and Employment

This submission was made on behalf of the National Association of Retail Grocers and Supermarkets of New Zealand (NARGON).  NARGON has around 500 retail members representing approximately 40% of New Zealand’s food retailing industry.

NARGON fully supports the intent of this bill.  The nature of work in the retail grocery sector means it is difficult to comply with current prescriptive provisions of the Employment Relations Act in relation to rest and meal breaks.

However, NARGON is concerned this bill, as initially drafted, contains several provisions which are unclear, contradictory or likely to have a different effect than intended.

Consequently, NARGON has recommended two amendments.  The main effect of the amendments would be to ensure that where the nature of the work means rest and meal breaks cannot be provided, compensatory measures must either be agreed, or, in the event of a failure to agree, determined by the employer.

It should also be possible for the employer and employee to agree to payment of an amount equivalent to the break foregone.  These determinations should be set out in the employee’s employment agreement.

The exact wording of the NARGON recommendations is:

Reword clause 4 (b) as follows and add a further paragraph (c):

(b) Includes (without limitation) a measure that provides the employee with time off during the employee’s work period for a meal break, for example, a finish time that incorporates the employee’s meal break or such other measure as may be agreed between the employer and the employee, and

(c) in the case of rest breaks, may include payment of an amount equivalent to the time forgone which, but for the nature of the work, would have been taken as a rest break in terms of section ZD(1) .

Reword section 69ZEA (as inserted by clause 5):

(1)  An employer is not required to provide rest and meal breaks in accordance with section 69 ZD(1) to the extent that the nature of the employee’s work means the employer cannot reasonably provide the employee with rest and meal breaks and either -

(a) the employer and employee agree that the employee is to be provided with compensatory measures, or

(b) in the event that the employer and the employee are unable to agree on the compensatory measures to be      provided, the compensatory measures are to be provided in a form determined by the employer.

(2) Compensatory measures may, as appropriate, involve time of work, a payment equivalent to the payment an employee might otherwise have expected to receive, or be as agreed between the employer and the employee.

Full copies of the submission are available on request or can be downloaded from the NARGON website – www.nargon.co.nz

 Holiday Review 2009 Part 2 (2.43 MB)