This newsletter provides a quick update on Performance Discipline issues, Wage Arrears and Christmas Holidays
Discipline
When disciplining employees for poor performance, it is not just a matter of interviewing and advising employees of their shortcomings.
Employers need to ensure standards of performance have been established and communicated to employees and that the employees are subsequently measured against these criteria.
Additionally if company policy and or employment agreements include the provision for performance reviews, these should in fact be undertaken.
Should a situation arise whereby disciplinary action is to be undertaken as a consequence of poor performance, a performance review and or retraining should be the first step in the process.
Should a grievance claim be initiated by an employee, the Employment Authority will want to see evidence of an attempt to review and retrain employees before any disciplinary action has been initiated.
Wage Arrears
There are a continuing number of claims by employees for arrears of wages and holiday pay through the Employment Authority.
Immediately upon the cessation of employment, employees are entitled (by law) to receive all outstanding wages, holiday pay and payment for days in lieu.
Employers are not permitted to withhold any amount of an employees wages/holiday pay due unless the employee has signed an authority agreeing to specific deductions from their final pay. A deduction authority may include deductions from pay for the non-return of company property and uniforms and for repayment of the balance of a staff account or other monies owing to the company.
If an employee has not signed a deduction authority and does not return company property or repay monies owing, the employee is still entitled to receive the full amount of all monies owing to them for their final pay and holiday pay due.
It is then incumbent on the employer to use alternative means such as the police or small claims tribunal to recover property or monies due to the company.
Christmas Holidays
The following page provides a simplistic flow chart for the process of determining the application of statutory holiday pay for the Christmas Holiday period
Statutory Holidays Christmas / New Year
| Does the statutory holiday fall on a day that would otherwise be an ordinary working day for the employee? |
No |
No entitlement to payment for statutory holiday. |
 Yes |
|
|
| Have the parties agreed that the statutory holiday will be observed on an alternative day? |
Yes |
Employee receives payment for work done on the actual statutory holiday at ordinary rate (or otherwise as specified in the agreement) and the holiday is enjoyed on an alternative day. |
| No |
|
| Has the statutory holiday been 'Mondayised' in accordance with the Holidays Act? |
Yes |
| No |
|
|
| Is the employee required (and has agreed) to work on the statutory holiday? (this includes where the employee is 'called out', where shifts overlap onto the holiday, or where the employee works only for a short period on the statutory holiday. |
Yes |
Employee receives payment for work performed at ordinary time rates (or as specified in the agreement), plus a whole day off on pay, in lieu of working on the statutory day. (Rate of pay for day in lieu is not less than an ordinary days pay. |
Should you require any assistance or support in regards the above or any other issue contact PHA Consultants for advice
