Barrister and solicitor Nan Jensen, who has a special interest in disability law, has put together the below information on workplace law in New Zealand, which is guided by the Employment Relations Act 2000.
Good faith employment relations
The main object of the law is “To build productive employment relationships through the promotion of good faith in all aspects of the employment environment and of the employment relationship”.
The guiding principle is the concept of ‘good faith employment relations’.
So what does this mean? The Act describes ‘implied mutual obligations of trust and confidence’, but says that good faith is more than that. It is about actively maintaining ‘a productive employment relationship’, and that the parties are ‘responsive and communicative’.