Vodafone NZ changes tune

AUCKLAND: Vodafone NZ says it is updating its messaging to staff about personal travel to Australia during the bubble.

The move follows media highlighting a memo that warned staff they faced possible ‘‘termination’’ if a border closure meant they were stuck across the Tasman for an ‘‘extended’’ amount of time beyond their approved leave dates.

‘‘On reflection, and based on feedback, we will be reviewing our communications to our people on international travel by staff during Covid19,’’ head of external affairs Rich Llewellyn said yesterday afternoon.

‘‘We can see we didn't get the messaging right on this one.’’

A 2degrees spokesman also acknowledged that, in an extreme case, a bubble stranding could lead to a dismissal, while Spark said it would consult with an employee as a ‘‘last resort’’.

Employment lawyer Jennifer Mills said she would not recommend employers release a bubbletravel policy including such a dismissal provision.

When personal leave had been granted, and an employee was subsequently trapped across the Tasman by a border closure, paid leave should be used up in the first instance.

Once that was exhausted, ‘‘the appropriate response would be unpaid leave’’, Mills said.

Mills said that, in her view, the dismissal provision of Vodafone NZ's policy would not hold up in an Employment Relations Authority hearing or the Employment Court. — The New Zealand Herald