In an interview with NZ employment lawyer, Mary Breckon O’Sullivan, she mentioned one thing that I wasn’t aware all employees in NZ are entitled to ask about – and it concerns flexible work arrangements!
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This is one I wish I’d known back when I was working for a big company.
I was in the depths of dealing with an autoimmune illness (which I believe was likely triggered by work stress) – and the chronic joint pain and lethargy was always so much worse in the morning. I was already working late at night, so I wanted to start later in the morning. But trying to even have a conversation about this was like bringing a live grenade into my workplace.
But here’s the thing – every employee is allowed to ask their employer for flexible work arrangements, and every employer is required to seriously consider these.
“For employees, there are flexible work arrangements that any employee can request and there are only certain grounds specified in the Employment Relations Act, which an employer can refuse to grant flexible working arrangements. That applies for all employees,” says leading NZ employment lawyer, Mary Breckon O’Sullivan.
That means if you’re unwell, going through menopause, going through a divorce, have a change in childcare arrangements, have just had a baby and need to rework your schedule, you can ask for flexible work arrangements, and your boss has to have a darned good reason for saying no.
“That’s right, there are about seven grounds for refusal stated under the Employment Relations Act,” says Mary. “And the employer has to respond within a month to the flexible work request. That applies across the board, to all employees.”
Those reasons include: an inability to reorganise work, inability to recruit additional staff, detrimental impact on quality or performance, insufficiency of work during proposed periods, planned structural changes, burden of additional costs, or a detrimental effect on the ability to meet customer demand.
If your employer does decline your request, it must be done so in writing, within a month and that refusal must state the specific legal ground for refusal.
And what are the implications if your employer doesn’t follow the correct process?
You can make a formal complaint to a labour inspector (but only if the process wasn’t followed correctly – you can’t complain just because they declined it, or because you don’t agree with their reasoning). If a labour inspector can’t resolve the complaint, you can refer to mediation. If that doesn’t work, you’re able to apply to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA). Just make sure that you do so within a year – it’s 12 months if you did get a refusal or 13 months from when you sent the request.
If ERA rules in your favour, they can impose a penalty of $2,000 payable to you.
