Individual Employment Agreement between an Employer and an Employee
1 The Parties
1.1 Individual Employment Agreement
The parties to this employment agreement are:
1. Naturally Baking Limited, the "Employer"; and
2. Sean O'Reilly, the "Employee".
2 The Position and the Duties
2.1 Position
The Employee is being employed as Packer.
2.2 Duties as set out in the job description which may be modified from time to time by the Employer
The Employee shall perform the duties set out in the Job Description attached to this agreement. These duties may be modified and updated by the Employer from time to time following agreement with the Employee. The Employee also agrees to perform all other reasonable duties and comply with reasonable instructions issued by the Employer.
2.3 Reporting
The Employee shall report to Pam East or to any other representative of the Employer designated from time to time by the Employer.
2.4 Performance Objectives
The Employer shall, in consultation with the Employee, set the Employee objectives at least on an annual basis. These objectives shall be taken into account by the Employer when assessing the Employee's performance.
2.5 Performance reviews
The Employer shall conduct a performance review of the Employee on at least an annual basis. This review shall be taken into account in any salary reviews.
3 Nature and Term of the Agreement
3.1 Fixed Term Individual Employment Agreement
This Employment Agreement is an individual employment agreement entered into under the Employment Relations Act 2000. The parties agree that this is a fixed term employment agreement. This agreement will commence on 1/1/06, and will end on 31/12/06. The Employer has genuine reasons based on reasonable grounds for specifying that the employment agreement is to end at this time, namely Naturally Baking Limited is trialing new markets and you have been employed to cover the extra work this entails. The parties also confirm that the Employee has been advised by the Employer when discussing this agreement, the reasons for the employment ending in this way.
4 Obligations of the Relationship
4.1 Obligations of the Employer
The Employer shall:
(i) Act as a good employer in all dealings with the Employee;
(ii) Deal with the Employee and any representative of the Employee in good faith in all aspects of the employment relationship;
(iii) Take all practicable steps to provide the Employee with a safe and healthy work environment.
4.2 Obligations of the Employee
The Employee shall:
(i) Comply with all reasonable and lawful instructions provided to them by the Employer;
(ii) Perform their duties with all reasonable skill and diligence;
(iii) Conduct their duties in the best interests of the Employer and the employment relationship;
(iv) Deal with the Employer in good faith in all aspects of the employment relationship;
(v) Comply with all policies and procedures (including any Codes of Conduct) implemented by the Employer from time to time.
(vi) Take all practicable steps to perform the job in a way that is safe and healthy for themselves and their fellow employees.
5 The Place of Work
5.1 Fixed Place of Work
The parties agree that the Employee shall perform their duties at 111 The Strand, Fictiontown, Newcity.
6 Hours of Work
6.1 Full Time Hours with an obligation to perform overtime as necessary with an entitlement to extra pay
The Employee's normal hours of work shall be 40 hours per week, between the hours of 8.30 am to 5.00 pm on 5 days. The Employee may also be required to perform such overtime as may be reasonably required by the Employer in order for the Employee to properly perform their duties. Where extra hours are performed the Employee shall be entitled to an overtime payment as set out in the wages clause below.
6.2 Lunch Breaks
The Employee shall be entitled to a lunch break on each working day of employment, of 30 minutes, to be taken at 12 noon or such other time as the parties agree from time to time.
6.3 Tea Breaks
The parties agree that the Employee shall be entitled to a tea break of 10 minutes at 10am or after 4 hours.
6.4 Variation to Hours of Work
The Employee's hours of work may be varied as follows:
(i) By mutual agreement between the Employee and the Employer; or
(ii) If agreement cannot be reached, by the Employer, following consultation with the Employee, provided that the Employee's minimum hours of work are not reduced below 40 hours and that any increase in hours of work is reasonable.
When seeking to vary the Employee's hours, the Employer shall act reasonably, and shall take into account the Employee's personal circumstances and commitments.
7 Wages/Salary/Allowances
7.1 Annual Salary
The Employee's salary shall be $25000 per annum, which shall be paid fortnightly on Wednesday into a bank account nominated by the Employee.
7.2 Bonus for achieving objectives
The Employee shall be eligible to receive a bonus in 12 months provided the Employee achieves in the reasonable opinion of the Employer the objectives agreed between the Employer and the Employee at the beginning of that period.
7.3 Review
The Employer agrees to review the Employee's salary/wages on the 12 month anniversary of this employment agreement and every 12 month anniversary thereafter. The parties agree that the Employee shall not have any necessary entitlement to an increase, but, the Employer agrees to conduct this review in good faith and to consult with the Employee during the review.
7.4 Overtime
The parties agree that where the Employee works requested overtime, the Employee shall be entitled to payment for each hour of overtime at the following rate: 1.5.
8 Holidays and Leave Entitlements
8.1 Short Form Clause on Annual Leave as set out in the Holidays Act
The Employee shall be entitled to paid annual leave of three weeks per year after 12 months continuous employment with the Employer, in accordance with the Holidays Act.
8.2 Payment for work on a Public Holiday
The employee shall be entitled to be paid for the time actually worked on a Public Holiday at the rate of time and a half of their relevant daily pay.
8.3 Sick Leave as set out in the Holidays Act
The Employee shall, after 6 months employment with the Employer, be entitled to 5 days sick leave for each subsequent 12 month period of service. Sick leave can be taken where the Employee is sick or where the Employee's spouse or a person who is dependent on the Employee is sick or injured.
Sick leave entitlements can be accumulated from year to year up to a maximum entitlement of 20 days.
8.4 Medical Certificate Required for Sick Leave
Where the Employee has taken sick leave and has been absent from work for at least three consecutive calendar days, the Employer shall be entitled to require the employee to provide proof of entitlement to sick leave, at the employee's cost.
Where the Employee takes sick leave, and the Employer has reasonable cause to suspect that the leave is not genuine, the Employer shall be entitled to require the employee to provide proof of entitlement to sick leave within the three consecutive calendar days, at the employer's cost. The employer will inform the employee as early as possible that such proof will be required.
8.5 Bereavement Leave as set out in the Holidays Act
The Employee is entitled after 6 months employment to paid bereavement leave of up to three days in relation to the death of their parent, grandparent, sibling, child, grandchild, spouse, or parent of their spouse.
The Employee is entitled to one days paid bereavement leave if the Employer considers the Employee has suffered a bereavement through the death of another person.
8.6 Parental Leave
The Employee shall be entitled to parental leave in accordance with the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987.
8.7 Annual Closedown
The Employer may closedown all or part of its operations regularly once a year and require the Employee to take leave during the period of the close down, even where this requires the Employee to take leave for which they are not fully reimbursed. The Employer shall provide the Employee with at least 14 days advance notice of the closedown.
9 Health and Safety
9.1 General Health and Safety Obligations
Both the Employer and the Employee shall comply with their obligations under the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992. This includes the Employer taking all practicable steps to provide the Employee with a healthy and safe working environment. The Employee shall comply with all directions and instructions from the Employer regarding health and safety and shall also take all reasonable steps to ensure that in the performance of their employment they do not undermine their own health and safety or the health and safety of any other person.
9.2 Health and Safety Policies
The Employee shall ensure they are familiar with the Employer's health and safety policies, and any modifications to those policies that may be introduced from time to time.
9.3 Lifting
Because manual handling tasks are a significant part of the Employee's job, the Employer and Employee shall consult about the hazards represented by the tasks, to ensure that both parties have regard to the recommendations set out in the Department of Labour Approved Code for Manual Handling.
10 Other Employment Obligations
10.1 Confidential Information
The Employee shall not, whether during the currency of this agreement or after its termination for whatever reason, use, disclose or distribute to any person or entity, otherwise than as necessary for the proper performance of their duties and responsibilities under this agreement, or as required by law, any confidential information, messages, data or trade secrets acquired by the Employee in the course of performing their services under this agreement. This includes, but is not limited to, information about the Employer's business.
10.2 Copyright and other Intellectual Property
All work produced for the Employer by the Employee under this agreement or otherwise and the right to the copyright and all other intellectual property in all such work is to be the sole property of the Employer.
10.3 Conflicts of Interest
The Employee agrees that there are no contracts, restrictions or other matters which would interfere with their ability to discharge their obligations under this agreement. If, while performing their duties and responsibilities under this agreement, the Employee becomes aware of any potential or actual conflict between their interests and those of the Employer, then the Employee shall immediately inform the Employer. Where the Employer forms the view that such a conflict does or could exist, it may direct the Employee to take action(s) to resolve that conflict, and the Employee shall comply with that instruction. When acting in their capacity as Employee, the Employee shall not, either directly or indirectly, receive or accept for their own benefit or the benefit of any person or entity other than the Employer any gratuity, emolument, or payment of any kind from any person having or intending to have any business with the Employer.
10.4 Privacy Obligations
The Employer and the Employee shall comply with the obligations set out in the Privacy Act 1993. The Employee must not breach the privacy of any customer or client in the course of their employment.
11 Restructuring and Redundancy
11.1 Employer to provide information and consider comments in restructuring situations
In the event that all or part of the work undertaken by the employee will be affected by the employer entering into an arrangement whereby a new employer will undertake the work currently undertaken by the employee, the employer will meet with the employee, providing information about the proposed arrangement and an opportunity for the employee to comment on the proposal, consider and respond to their comments.
11.2 Employer to require offer of similar position in restructuring situations
The employer will negotiate with the new employer, including whether the affected employees will transfer to the new employer on the same terms and conditions, and will include in the agreement reached with the new employer a requirement that the employee be offered a position with the new employer at the same or similar terms of employment.Where the employee either chooses not to transfer to the new employer, or is not offered employment by the new employer, the employer will activate the redundancy provisions of this agreement.Redundancy is a situation where the position of employment of an employee is or will become surplus to the requirements of the Employer's business.
12 Termination of Employment
12.1 General Termination
The Employer may terminate this agreement for cause, by providing 2 weeks notice in writing to the Employee. Likewise the Employee is required to give 2 weeks notice of resignation. The Employer may, at its discretion, pay remuneration in lieu of some or all of this notice period.
12.2 Termination for Serious Misconduct
Notwithstanding any other provision in this agreement, the Employer may terminate this agreement summarily and without notice for serious misconduct on the part of the Employee. Serious misconduct includes, but is not limited to:
(i) theft;
(ii) dishonesty;
(iii) harassment of a work colleague or customer;
(iv) serious or repeated failure to follow a reasonable instruction;
(v) deliberate destruction of any property belonging to the Employer;
(vi) actions which seriously damage the Employer's reputation.
12.3 Suspension
In the event the Employer wishes to investigate any alleged misconduct, it may, after discussing the proposal of suspension with the Employee, and considering the Employee's views, suspend the Employee on pay whilst the investigation is carried out.
12.4 Termination on Medical Grounds
In the event the Employee has been absent from work for 5 days which should represent an extended break from employment because of illness, the Employer shall be entitled to require the Employee to undergo a medical examination by a registered medical practitioner nominated by the Employer, at the Employer's cost. In assessing the Employee's fitness for work, the Employer shall take into account any report provided as a result of that examination, and any other medical report provided by the Employee within a reasonable time-frame. If, in the reasonable opinion of the Employer, the Employee is incapable of the proper performance of their duties by reason of illness, the Employer may terminate this agreement by the provision of at least 2 weeks notice.
12.5 Abandonment of Employment
In the event the Employee has been absent from work for three consecutive working days without any notification to the Employer, and the Employer has made reasonable efforts to contact the Employee, this agreement shall automatically terminate on the expiry of the third day without the need for notice of termination of employment.
12.6 Obligations of Employee on Termination
Upon the termination of this agreement for whatever reason, or at any other time if so requested by the Employer, the Employee shall immediately return to the Employer all information, material or property (including but not limited to computer disks, printouts, manuals, reports, letters, memos, plans, diagrams, security cards, keys, and laptop computers) either belonging to or the responsibility of the Employer and all copies of that material, which are in the Employee's possession or under their control.
13 Resolving Employment Relationship Problems
13.1 Long Form
If the employment relationship is to be as successful as possible, it is important that the Employer and Employee deal effectively with any problems that may arise.
This procedure sets out information on how problems can be raised and worked through.
What is an employment relationship problem?
It can be anything that harms or may harm the employment relationship, other than problems relating to setting the terms and conditions of employment.
Clarify the problem
If either the Employer or Employee feels that there may be a problem in the employment relationship, the first step is to check the facts and make sure there really is a problem, and not simply a misunderstanding.
Either party might want to discuss a situation with someone else to clarify whether a problem exists, but in doing so they should take care to respect the privacy of other employees and managers, and to protect confidential information belonging to the Employer. For example, the Employee could seek information from:Discuss the problem
- friends and family
- the Employment Relations Info-line on 0800 800 863 or on its website at www.ers.dol.govt.nz
- pamphlets/fact sheets from the Employment Relations Service
- their union (if they are a union member), a lawyer, a community law centre or an employment relations consultant.
If either party considers that there is a problem, it should be raised as soon as possible. This can be done in writing or verbally. Provided the Employee feels comfortable doing so, they should ordinarily raise the problem with their direct manager. Otherwise the problem can be raised with another appropriate manager. A meeting will usually then be arranged where the problem can be discussed. The Employee should feel free to bring a support person with them to the meeting if they wish.
The parties will then try to establish the facts of the problem and discuss possible solutions.
The Next Steps
If the parties are not able to resolve the problem by talking to each other, a number of options exist:In limited cases, there is a right to appeal a decision of the Employment Court to the Court of Appeal.
- Either party can contact the Employment Relations Infoline, who can provide information and/or refer the parties to mediation.
- Depending on the nature of the problem, the issues involved may also be ones that the Labour Inspectors employed by the Department of Labour can assist with, i.e. minimum statutory entitlements such as holiday, leave or wages provision.
- Either party can take part in mediation provided by the Employment Relations Service (or the parties can agree to get an independent mediator).
- If the parties reach agreement, a mediator provided by the Employment Relations Service can sign the agreed settlement, which will then be binding on the parties.
- The parties can both agree to have the mediator provided by the ERS decide the problem, in which case that decision will be binding;
- If mediation does not resolve the problem, either party can refer the problem to the Employment Relations Authority for investigation.
- The Authority can direct the parties to mediation, or can investigate the problem and issue a determination.
- If one or other of the parties is not happy with the Authority's determination, they can refer the problem to the Employment Court.
Personal Grievances
If the problem is a personal grievance, then the Employee must raise it within 90 days of when the facts that give rise to the grievance occur or come to their attention. A personal grievance can only be raised outside this time frame with the agreement of the Employer or in exceptional circumstances.
14 Acknowledgement of the Agreement
14.1 Variation of Agreement
The parties may vary this agreement, provided that no variation shall be effective or binding on either party unless it is in writing and signed by both parties.
14.2 Entire Agreement
Each party acknowledges that this agreement contains the whole and entire agreement between the parties as to the subject matter of this agreement.
14.3 Severability
The various provisions of this agreement are severable and if any provision is held to be invalid or unenforceable by any court of competent jurisdiction, then such invalidity or unenforceability shall not affect the remaining provisions of this agreement.
14.4 Deductions from Salary/Wages
Where requested by the Employee, the Employer shall deduct from their salary/wages any agreed amount for matters such as superannuation, a staff social club or union fees and pay the amount to the organisation specified by the employee. The Employer shall also be entitled to deduct from any salary payment payable upon termination of employment any overpayment made to the Employee for leave taken in advance.
14.5 Employee Acknowledgment
The Employee acknowledges that:
(i) they have been advised of their right to take independent advice on the terms of this agreement,
(ii) that they have been provided with a reasonable opportunity to take that advice;
(iii) that they have read these terms of employment and understand these terms and their implications; and
(iv) that they agree to be bound by these terms of employment and the Employer's policies and procedures as implemented by the Employer from time to time.
15. Declaration
I, Naturally Baking Limited, offer this employment agreement to Sean O'Reilly.
Signed by:.............................................................. Date:..........................
I, Sean O'Reilly, declare that I have read and understand the conditions of employment detailed above and accept them fully. I have been advised of the right to seek independent advice in relation to this agreement, and have been allowed reasonable time to do so.
Signed by:.............................................................. Date:..........................[ back to top ]
Last modified on
13-Jun-2007 11:52 | About NZ OER project
