Publications

We produce a range of articles, legal publications and resources on a wide range of legal subjects and hot topics critical to our clients needs. These include briefings on key legal issues, newsletters on practice areas and industry developments via the below headings.

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Displaying 101 - 120 of 444 results

Failed construction and Councils’ duty of care

When Stadium Southland’s roof collapsed following heavy snowfall in 2010, the finger was pointed squarely at the Invercargill City Council (Council). How could such an event occur under the watchful eye of local council, given the regulatory functions they are required to perform under the More »

Changes to National Planning Standards

The Ministry for the Environment has recently introduced the Draft National Planning Standards, which are open for comment until Friday 17 August 2018. This article outlines the general purpose of the Standards, and some issues we have identified which may undermine considerable concessions which More »

Dust monitoring results released

The results of the Environment Canterbury monitoring programme at Yaldhurst have been released, in a report made available on Friday 22 June. The report focussed on dust which could have adverse health effects, in particular respirable crystalline silica dust ( RCS ). The report concluded that More »

A restorative justice approach for the environment

The development of Alternative Environmental Justice (AEJ) has been driven by Environment Canterbury’s Monitoring and Compliance Section. Largely to fill a gap in the toolbox where the offence requires a stronger response than an infringement notice but perhaps falls short of the threshold More »

OIO – Residential land update

Currently, in New Zealand’s overseas investment regime, the only constant is change. The Select Committee’s report on the Overseas Investment Amendment Bill ( Amendment Bill ) was released yesterday, providing more detail on what the new residential land changes might look like. The More »

Employment changes on the horizon

With the change in Government, comes the customary change to employment laws. Below is a summary of the changes most relevant to the retail sector. 90 day trial period restricted to businesses with less than 20 employees The statutory 90 day trial period will become a thing of the past for More »

Availability provisions

While the introduction of tighter rules around availability provisions and zero hours contracts is not new, the first decision to consider this issue has provided some interesting guidance around how availability can be approached. An “availability provision” is a clause in an More »

Working time before and after work is paid time

Many retailers require employees to be present before their store opens for a quick overview of the day ahead and some are often required to stay after hours at the end of the day for cashing up, or while the last customers make their way out of the store. Employees are often not paid for the extra More »

Methamphetamine contamination: a new era?

A new report by the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor Sir Peter Gluckman released this week suggests that the recently revised guidelines for decontamination of properties where methamphetamine has been smoked are too strict. Those standards were published by Standards New Zealand, after More »

Paid parental leave set to increase from 1 July 2018

Paid parental leave is set to increase from 18 weeks to 22 weeks from 1 July 2018. The number of “keeping in touch days” is also set to increase. From 1 July 2018, when paid parental leave is increased to 22 weeks, an employee will be able to work up to 52 hours without losing their More »

Holidays Act review announced

The Government has announced that a Holidays Act Working Group will be established to carry out a full review of the Holidays Act 2003. In recent times, it has become clear that there are widespread compliance issues with the Holidays Act. MBIE estimates that between 10 to 40% of the workforce More »

The ins and outs of drug and alcohol testing in the workplace

Drug and alcohol use by employees has been a long standing issue for workplaces in New Zealand, as has the question of how to lawfully screen for drug and alcohol use in the workplace. Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, employers’ obligations in relation to minimising or More »

The changing landscape of employment law

Changes of government often see significant shifts in the employment law landscape in New Zealand and the election of the Labour led government in late 2017 was no exception. To this end the Employment Relations Amendment Bill ( the Amendment Bill ) was introduced into Parliament in January 2018 More »

No need to fear: getting your head around the GDPR

If you have been reading anything about the impending go-live date of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you might be feeling a bit daunted: more stringent data protection standards, heightened rights for individuals, harsher penalties on data controllers and processors for failing to More »

Review of insurance contract law is underway

In March 2018 the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment announced that it would be launching a review of insurance contract law. The objectives of the review are to ensure that the law related to insurance means that insurers and insureds are able to transact with confidence at all points More »

Penalties reach new levels in latest health and safety case

Mining company Oceana Gold has been sentenced after the death of a worker in July 2016. It has been ordered to pay almost $1.4 million in fines and reparation. The worker died after the loader he was driving entered an underground tunnel at Oceana Gold's Correnso mine in Waihi and tipped over. More »

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Displaying 101 - 120 of 444 results