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Have your say > Bills and new laws > Probationary Employment Bill
Probationary Employment Bill
The Employment Relations (Probationary Employment) Amendment Bill
Not quite sure what a bill is or what an MP stands for? Check out Dr. Glossie’s Glossary of Political Terms
What’s the bill about?
This bill was about:
- creating a 3-month probation period with the idea that it would allow employers to “take a chance” with new employees
- allowing employers to dismiss an employee (be able to fire people) without saying why during those first 3 months.
At the moment if you’re unfairly dismissed you can go through a
personal grievance process. This means you can find out why you have
been dismissed and say why you think it’s unfair (you can make a
complaint against your boss). The Employment Relations (Probationary
Employment) Amendment Bill would have taken away the personal grievance
process.
Why are they trying to change the current law?
People wanted to change the law because they thought that having a
probation period will allow people who have not had previous work
experience to find their first job, and make it easier for people who
haven’t been work for awhile to find a job.
What about those people who are against the bill?
There was a lot of debate on this bill and here are some reasons why some people didn’t support the bill:
- The current law allows for a probation employment period except you must be told why you have been dismissed
- It could cause employers to sack employees unfairly
- It removes employees rights for a personal grievance process in the first 90 days
- It could increase young people being employed as casual workers.
Youth Voices to the government!
Activate, a youth advisory group for the Ministry of Youth Development,
gave a presentation to the select committee on this bill. They gave the
committee feedback from young people who completed a questionnaire on
the bill.
See the related documents at the bottom of the page to see their
Powerpoint presentation to the select committee on the bill and the
reasons why they didn’t support the bill.
What did young people say?
Here are some of the things young people said about the bill in the questionnaire.
“How can we expect young people to be committed to work when they are treated as though they are disposable?”
19 years old
“We need to be able to have faith in the system to protect us.”
19 years old
“To put that much effort into something, and be treated like a
'puppet' a such, which can be disposed of at any time, is somewhat
inhumane.”
20 years old
“Because I feel that some employers who are dishonest can take advantage of young people.”
17 years old
“If the government thinks this would help young people find a job, it wont change anything, probably just make things worst.”
17 years old
“Because youth should be given the rights to question dismissal.”
16 years old
“If it opens up opportunities to allow employment for young people
then it's a good thing. But an amendment should be that the employer
must provide a reason.”
16 years old
“I think it will at least give young people a chance to see what working is like and to get the chance.”
16 years old
How will politicians decide?
At the end of the day, the whole of Parliament and all the MPs vote on
bills and it comes down to counting the votes for and against.
Some political parties have a 'caucus decision' that means when it
comes to voting on the bill, they will vote all the same even if they
personally don't agree with the 'party decision'. Sometimes parties let
their people do a 'conscience vote' which means that they can vote the
way they personally want to.
Where’s the bill at now?
Parliament voted on the bill in November 2006. Labour, New Zealand
First, the Greens, the Maori Party and the Progressive Party voted
against it, which means it doesn’t move onto the third reading. The
end!
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