Employer obligations: mental health
As an employer, you have a duty of care for both the physical and mental health of your employees’ health.
Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA): Under the HSWA, you have an obligation to minimise the stress and mental health impacts that arise from within your workplace. This includes monitoring increased workloads to ensure your employees are not overexerted and stressed, investigating any bullying claims and ensuring a safe working environment.
Employees’ rights: Your employees are not obliged to disclose a mental health condition unless it will directly impact their ability to safely perform their role. If you ask about a mental illness that directly impacts their ability to perform their role safely, they must tell the truth. There is a risk of disciplinary action if they do not provide you with the correct information.
You cannot discriminate against any employee (or potential employee) if they have a mental illness. These discriminations could be:
* Not offering a job due to their disclosed mental illness
* Not promoting as a consequence of their mental illness, or
* Providing less favourable terms of employment as a result of their mental illness.
Employee action for perceived discrimination: If your employee believes they are being discriminated against, they may wish to discuss this with you to try and resolve the matter. If this is not successful or not appropriate, they can seek support from the Employment Mediation Services, raise a personal grievance or make a complaint to the Human Rights Commission.
What can employers do? You can help to facilitate a positive working environment and take steps to protect your employees by:
* Providing support if a traumatic work event occurs
* Offering flexible working environments including hours/days worked and the location for work to be completed by, for example, using other machines
* Allowing time off to attend appointments
* Providing resources such as counselling, work mentoring or stress management courses, and
* Changing your employee’s duties.
It is important that you talk with your employees and take necessary steps to support them the same way you should protect their physical wellbeing.
Consumer Guarantees Act vs Fair Trading Act
The purpose of these two laws are often confused: the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 (CGA) and the Fair Trading Act 1986 (FTA) both provide legislative protection for consumers. However, they both address different aspects of consumer rights and business conduct.
The Consumer Guarantees Act 1993: The CGA only applies to goods and services bought for personal, domestic or household use, and not to those purchased for business purposes. The CGA states that goods must be of acceptable quality, fit for purpose and match the description provided by the seller. You cannot contract out of the CGA, even if you want to do so.
The CGA is important in that it ensures that goods and services bought for domestic use meet certain standards following their sale.
The Fair Trading Act 1986: In contrast, the FTA provides protection for consumers from misleading and deceptive conduct of sellers in trade. The FTA cannot be contracted out of, except where both parties are in trade.
The FTA also promotes fair practice and conduct in relation to the supply of goods and services, meaning businesses must compete effectively and fairly. The CGA ensures all businesses operate on a level playing field, particularly for smaller businesses that could be taken advantage of by larger corporations.
If you find yourself in a position where false claims have been made in respect of machinery, livestock or equipment, you may have a claim under the FTA.
In addition, there may be other forms of redress ensuring fair treatment of consumers and business owners.
America’s threats of tariffs
Since the election of President Donald Trump, tariffs have remained a central focus of America’s trade policy.
What are tariffs? Tariffs impose a duty tax on imported goods from other countries. If you export goods to America you must pay the tax to the US government. This is typically a percentage of the value of the product.
The main purpose of a tariff is usually to shift the demand away from imported goods to domestically produced goods.
Countries facing American tariffs: The threat of tariffs against Mexico, Canada and China came as a response to halt illegal immigration and stop illegal drugs flowing into America.
Now, more than 125 countries are facing tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. New Zealand currently faces a recently announced 10% tariff on goods exported to America. This will have an impact on all New Zealand’s exports to America.
In particular, it will affect our agricultural sector, including food and fibre, that accounts for around 81% of New Zealand’s total goods exports.[1]
How will the tariffs affect us? America is one of New Zealand’s key markets. The new 10% tariff means that kiwi businesses could choose to either lower their prices to entice importers to keep buying their goods or sell their goods elsewhere.
New Zealand could feel the impact of tariffs on other countries as they will be less likely to import goods from New Zealand because of their reduced revenue. Other impacts New Zealand could potentially face include fluctuations of KiwiSaver, investments, our currency, shares and general uncertainty as the markets react to these tariffs.
Given that New Zealand is a small nation and we rely on trade, there are potential silver linings. We may see products from other countries being sold at a lower cost as manufacturers look beyond the American market and its tariffs.
There is a great deal of global volatility caused by the tariffs imposed by America. Given that these tariffs are continually changing, this is creating a huge amount of uncertainty about the future of world trade.
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[1] Ministry for Primary Industries, Situation and Outlook for Primary Industries, December 2024.