2016-Jan 29: Employment Agreements – Minimum Standards

Visa Pak 244: Guidelines for Immigration Officers to check employment agreements and ensure the content complies with minimum employment standards.

Visa Paks

29 January 2016 

Immigration officers are often required to review employment agreements for compliance with minimum employment standards when making decisions on applications for work visas.

An Immigration Officer must be satisfied that an employer can illustrate compliance with New Zealand immigration and employment laws. A compliant employment agreement is one way for an employer to show this. An employment agreement that is not compliant with employment law may require the issue to be addressed by PPI.

Now available is a guide on employment agreement standards, as well as a fact sheet detailing the mandatory standards that are required. This includes the ‘Must Haves’ which are mandatory terms and conditions that must be included in an individual employment agreement by law.

‘Minimum Standards’ which are specified in law apply regardless of whether they are included in an employment agreement. It is not a requirement to include all minimum standards in an individual employment agreement. However, if these are included, they must be compliant with the relevant employment law.

An employment agreement can also include ‘Best Practice’ clauses; additional negotiated terms and conditions which might be included in order to give clarity to the employment agreement.

Action
Please discuss these guidelines with your team(s) and make the guide available for reference when immigration officers are deciding applications with employment agreements.