Sly employers abuse trial periods
Workplace trial periods, which are to end on May 6 for businesses that employ more than 20 people, have resulted in tens of thousands of Kiwi workers being sacked by their employers every year.
CTU president Richard Wagstaff says, “We think work trials should not be allowed for any employer as it denies natural justice.”
According to Employment New Zealand: “An employer can employ a new employee on a trial period for up to 90 days as long as this is agreed in the written employment agreement before the employee starts work.”
An employee cannot be put on a trial if they’ve worked for that employer previously.
During the trial period the employee can’t bring a personal grievance for unjustified dismissal or other legal proceedings about their dismissal.
Wagstaff says the way these work trials have been used has been problematic. “Research conducted by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) shows tens of thousands of Kiwi workers are being sacked by their employers every year as employers take advantage of unfair trial periods.”
Wagstaff says that people who are employed on trial periods are being treated as disposable. “That’s not how to treat people. Good employers don’t
tend to use the trial period anyway.
“We think it’s the unscrupulous employers who abuse the trials. The research results are quite alarming — so many people are being sacked within their trial period without cause or a process of natural justice.”
When the 90-day trial was put in place, the National Government claimed it would create jobs because employers would be more likely to give a person a chance.
Wagstaff says: “Other research has shown that it does not make a difference to employment levels. It hasn’t actually meant more jobs.”
He says people aren’t aware of how damaging these trials have been, probably because around being fired.
“People who get fired don’t tend to talk about it — they just live with it. But these figures show that the abuse of the system is much more widespread than many people thought.”
He says, “Our view is that when you fire someone, it’s a seriously big deal. If you’re hiring somebody you shouldn’t do it casually as though this is without consequences.
“New workers, in particular, are very vulnerable. They shouldn’t be seen as disposable, they should be seen as entering into a good-faith agreement where there is a reciprocal agreement to well-being and good outcomes.
“Trial periods just encourage the view that workers are disposable. Getting fired is an unpleasant experience. It’s not good for self-esteem or confidence or all the things new workers need to develop at work. A lot of damage is being done on a far greater scale than people realise.”
Wagstaff says he thinks it would be mainly young people and people on low pay who are being affected.
He says the first thing for an employer to do if they’re having an issue with a new employee, is to look at how to make it work. Trial periods discourage trying to make it work — they encourage employers to dispose of workers in rapid succession. Unscrupulous employers are making sure there are no liabilities, no reciprocal relationship — they just flip employees on before employment responsibilities such as leave pay come into the picture.
“It puts people in a very vulnerable position when they know they can be fired on the spot without cause, we think that creates a very unbalanced employer/employee relationship from the start. What we want to establish is respectful reciprocal relationships between employer and employees, not one-sided, unbalanced relationships.”
Wagstaff says New Zealand didn’t have trial periods in the past, and shouldn’t have them now. “They haven’t helped with employment levels. There is no benefit to them — but there certainly is disadvantage. We think the trial periods should be eliminated for smaller businesses as well. They don’t support employment, they just cause misery.
“The Government needs to act to ensure that working Kiwis are being treated fairly and removing trial periods from the law would ensure that employers were not able to treat working people as being a disposable resource,” Wagstaff says.
“Based on MBIE research, 80,070 employers used trial periods during the year. That is a minimum of 80,070 employees on trial periods, but we suspect many more Kiwi workers were on trial periods.
“During or at the end of the trial period 20,300 employers dismissed an employee.
“That is a minimum of 20,300 employees dismissed on trial periods, but once again we suspect many more Kiwi workers have been sacked by their employers.”