An overview of employment law — Business Studies Level 3

What this standard needs

The teaching guide asks for an overview of employment law — enough to recognise which Act applies to an issue and what it requires in outline. It does not ask for legal detail, and it never asks you to give legal advice.

The guide names six Acts. One of them no longer exists, and knowing that is worth more than memorising the other five.

The Acts the course names

Employment Relations Act 2000.

The framework Act for the whole employment relationship: written agreements, good faith, union rights and collective bargaining, personal grievances, mediation and the Employment Relations Authority.
This is the one that applies to most human resource issues.

Minimum Wage Act 1983.

Sets minimum wage rates, which are reviewed and set by regulation — the rate changes, usually annually, while the Act stays.
Provides for adult, starting-out and training minimum rates.
Check the current rate on an official source before quoting one; a figure from an old textbook will be wrong.

Holidays Act 2003.

Annual holidays, public holidays, sick leave, bereavement leave and family violence leave, and how each is paid.
Entitlements under this Act have been amended over time; check current entitlements rather than assuming.

Equal Pay Act 1972.

Requires equal pay for work of equal value, and provides the framework for pay equity claims where work historically done by women has been undervalued.

Human Rights Act 1993.

Makes discrimination unlawful on prohibited grounds — including sex, marital status, religious belief, colour, race, ethnic or national origin, disability, age, political opinion, employment status, family status and sexual orientation.
It applies across recruitment, terms, training, promotion and dismissal, so it reaches every stage of the employment cycle.

Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 — this Act has been repealed. See below.

The Act that changed

The teaching guide, last updated in 2022, still names the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992. That Act was repealed and replaced by the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.

Teach and write about the current Act:

The duty sits on a PCBU — a "person conducting a business or undertaking" — rather than only on an employer.
The PCBU must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers and of others affected by the work.
Officers — directors and senior decision-makers — have a due diligence duty, so health and safety is a governance responsibility, not something delegated downwards.
Workers have duties too, and have the right to participate and to be represented, including through health and safety representatives.
Health includes mental health, which is why workload, fatigue and stress are health and safety issues and not only wellbeing initiatives.

If you cite the Act in your report, cite the 2015 one, and say that the course guide names its predecessor. That is an accurate statement about the material, and it demonstrates you checked.

Using the law in an investigation

Employment law usually appears in a human resource investigation in one of four ways:

as a constraint — a solution is not available because it would breach the law or the employment agreement
as a minimum — the law sets a floor, and the question is whether the business should sit above it
as a cause — the issue exists because the business did not do what was required, most often around process
as a trigger — a change in the law, or in the minimum wage, changes the business's costs or practices

Write about what the Act requires in outline and what that means for the business's decision. Do not attempt to determine whether a particular action was lawful.

What this standard needs

The guide names six Acts. One of them no longer exists, and knowing that is worth more than memorising the other five.

The Acts the course names

Employment Relations Act 2000.

The framework Act for the whole employment relationship: written agreements, good faith, union rights and collective bargaining, personal grievances, mediation and the Employment Relations Authority.
This is the one that applies to most human resource issues.

Minimum Wage Act 1983.

Sets minimum wage rates, which are reviewed and set by regulation — the rate changes, usually annually, while the Act stays.
Provides for adult, starting-out and training minimum rates.
Check the current rate on an official source before quoting one; a figure from an old textbook will be wrong.

Holidays Act 2003.

Annual holidays, public holidays, sick leave, bereavement leave and family violence leave, and how each is paid.
Entitlements under this Act have been amended over time; check current entitlements rather than assuming.

Equal Pay Act 1972.

Requires equal pay for work of equal value, and provides the framework for pay equity claims where work historically done by women has been undervalued.

Human Rights Act 1993.

Makes discrimination unlawful on prohibited grounds — including sex, marital status, religious belief, colour, race, ethnic or national origin, disability, age, political opinion, employment status, family status and sexual orientation.
It applies across recruitment, terms, training, promotion and dismissal, so it reaches every stage of the employment cycle.

Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 — this Act has been repealed. See below.

The Act that changed

The teaching guide, last updated in 2022, still names the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992. That Act was repealed and replaced by the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.

Teach and write about the current Act:

The duty sits on a PCBU — a "person conducting a business or undertaking" — rather than only on an employer.
The PCBU must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers and of others affected by the work.
Officers — directors and senior decision-makers — have a due diligence duty, so health and safety is a governance responsibility, not something delegated downwards.
Workers have duties too, and have the right to participate and to be represented, including through health and safety representatives.
Health includes mental health, which is why workload, fatigue and stress are health and safety issues and not only wellbeing initiatives.

If you cite the Act in your report, cite the 2015 one, and say that the course guide names its predecessor. That is an accurate statement about the material, and it demonstrates you checked.

Using the law in an investigation

Employment law usually appears in a human resource investigation in one of four ways:

as a constraint — a solution is not available because it would breach the law or the employment agreement
as a minimum — the law sets a floor, and the question is whether the business should sit above it
as a cause — the issue exists because the business did not do what was required, most often around process
as a trigger — a change in the law, or in the minimum wage, changes the business's costs or practices

Write about what the Act requires in outline and what that means for the business's decision. Do not attempt to determine whether a particular action was lawful.