Tisch Lindsay: Holidays Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
Tisch Lindsay: Holidays Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
[Volume:614;Page:10549] 
LINDSAY TISCH (National—Piako) 
: 
 I want to move to clause 77. This clause is about employment conditions if an employee is dismissed and re-employed within 1 month. The question that arises—and I ask the Minister to seriously consider what I am saying and what I would like clarification on—is this: if somebody is on a fixed-term contract and the contract finishes then within the 1-month period that person who was on a fixed-term contract is re-employed by that particular firm is that regarded as continuous employment? I do not know the answer to this and that is why I am asking the Minister. If somebody is on a fixed-term contract—and a lot of firms have fixed-term contracts because they do not know whether there will be continuity of work in the long term—and that contract finishes is that deemed to be a dismissal if within the 1-month period identified in clause 77 that person is then re-employed by that particular firm? Is that regarded as continuous employment under clause 77? I say to the Minister that it is a genuine question. A lot of businesses will want to know the answer to it. What is suggested in clause 77 presupposes that that is the case and the extra costs associated with it and the extra provisions that a firm will have to go through could be quite horrendous. That is the first part of clause 77. 
The second matter that I want to bring to members’ attention concerns the situation where there are casual or temporary employees. That is deemed to be similar to a fixed-term contract because they are taken on for a certain period on a casual or a temporary basis. The employer does that because there is not ongoing work or because of their skills or whatever the reason is for wanting to be able to use those people only for a fixed term. I would consider those people to be similar to those on a fixed-term contract. Does clause 77 apply to them? The Minister has advisers with her this evening. It is a very simple question that I am asking. I would like some clarification as to my understanding of what clause 77 means. Clause 77 will affect a lot of businesses and I believe that we need to know what it means so we can pass that information over to them. 
I want to look in particular at clause 71 “Powers of Labour Inspector”. I will not read it out. The labour inspector’s powers are quite immense. Clause 72 states the extent to which the labour inspector can go. I draw members’ attention to the subset of clauses that I mentioned briefly in an earlier speech and to clause 8A(2)—and this is in Part 1 so we are going back to the implication that clause 72 has—in particular which states: “A Labour Inspector may determine the amount of the employee’s ordinary weekly pay or relevant daily pay as the case may be.” What extraordinary powers the labour inspector has! I do not know of any other business where a labour inspector could determine what the weekly pay would be. 
Opposition member 
: Labour police. 
LINDSAY TISCH 
: That is it—the member has said it—and that is what it says. The clause states: “A Labour Inspector may determine the amount of the employee’s ordinary weekly pay or relevant daily pay as the case may be.” The same applies in clause 8C which determines the working-day.