Scott Alastair: Employment Standards Legislation Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeScott Alastair: Employment Standards Legislation Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 03 March 2016. Volume:711;Page:9397. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ALASTAIR SCOTT (National—Wairarapa): It is a delight to stand in support of this bill. I am very pleased to hear the Labour Opposition also supporting this bill at this stage. The definition of zero-hour contracts and I will focus on that part of the bill—often we are talking at cross-purposes because no one wants to have a zero-hour contract where someone sits by the phone is not compensated has to wait around all day with the potential of getting zero hours and is not able to work anywhere else. That is an unacceptable situation.This bill does not allow that. This bill is a bill that supports in all its parts the employee whether it is to do with flexibility around paid parental leave—it recognises the changing nature of the workplace and the demands and the desirability of connecting the newborn baby with the mother. It recognises the tougher penalties and strengthens the enforcement of the labour laws and it also compels employers to keep better records so that they can be audited and penalties increased if they are not kept to the appropriate standard.But let me come back to the zero-hour contract. I would rather call it—or well I do call it—a contract where one person is on call for another. Of course if one is on call—whether one is a medical practitioner or a coffee grinder it does not matter—this bill insists and ensures that there is compensation for making oneself available to the employer. So that is a fundamental change in the law. The other fundamental difference is that there is compensation again to the employee where there is a cancellation in the shift. That is of course fair enough. There also must be a good reason for a restriction on the employee to not be able to work in another employer’s business or in other employment situations.I accept that what is reasonable notice and what is reasonable compensation is difficult to understand. Mr Lees-Galloway has already talked about the need for clarification on what is reasonable. As the Minister and Mr Lees-Galloway have alluded to there are lots of things that must be considered and part of the consideration is of course perhaps the type of business that one is involved with—whether it is a very specialist business or whether it is of a general nature. Perhaps a consideration as to what is reasonable might be the degree to which the employer can foresee or control the need to cancel the shifts. So if it is foreseeable and then it is cancelled then one should be paying more than if it were not. The nature of the employee’s work and the likely effect of a cancellation on the employee—so again supporting the employee in the situation—should be considered when determining what is reasonable. Perhaps the nature of the employee’s work and employment arrangements including where the guaranteed hours of work might be should be considered.So there are lots of things that need to be considered when one considers what is reasonable notice and what is reasonable compensation and I look forward to seeing the Supplementary Order Papers come through and debating that in Committee stage. I commend this bill to the House.