Musk likely ‘would fall foul’ of NZ labour law
Elon Musk’s managerial style has not endeared him to everyone at Twitter and one employment law specialist says some of his tactics would not be legal in New Zealand.
Musk bought the company for US$44 billion (NZ$71.79b).
He fired much of its fulltime workforce by email early this month and was expected to eliminate numerous contract jobs. Earlier this week, he sent an email to remaining staff, telling them they should decide whether they wanted to remain. Those who did not accept a new way of working would be give three months’ severance pay.
Musk wrote employees ‘‘will need to be extremely hardcore’’ to build ‘‘a breakthrough Twitter 2.0’’ and that long hours at high intensity would be needed. A number of engineers also said on Twitter they were fired after saying something critical of Musk, either on Twitter or on the company’s internal messaging system.
Alison Maelzer, a partner at law firm Hesketh Henry, said New Zealand employment law would not allow for much of this approach.
She said ultimatums, or statements that could amount to unilateral change to employees’ terms and conditions, were not lawful in New Zealand. ‘‘The reported ‘if you don’t agree to change your terms and conditions, your employment will be terminated’ would not comply with New Zealand requirements to bargain in good faith about any proposed change to someone’s employment agreement. A dismissal in these circumstances would almost certainly be unjustified in New Zealand,’’ she said.
‘‘New Zealand employment law also requires the employer to follow a process before deciding to terminate employment – this process will involve putting any allegations to
the employee, seeking their feedback, genuinely considering it, and only then making a decision. An employer also needs good grounds for dismissal – the dismissal needs to be an action that a fair and reasonable employer could have taken in all the circumstances.
‘‘You didn’t commit to hardcore Twitter would be unlikely to warrant a justified dismissal in New Zealand.’’ But she said comments made about the company on Twitter or internal communications platforms could be considered misconduct or serious misconduct under New Zealand law. ‘‘This would depend on the nature of the comments, and any policies the employer has in place about social media and other communications. There are definitely employees in New Zealand who have lost their jobs as a result of comments or posts on social media.
‘‘As above though, the employer would need to follow a fair process before reaching a conclusion that the employee’s conduct warranted dismissal.’’