Brooke van Velden: Workplace Relations Minister on the Government's plan to clarify gig workers and contractor criteria in new law

The Government's proposing new criteria to define who's a contractor and who's an employee.

'Contractors' will need to have signed a contract, stating they're an independent contractor.

They must be able to subcontract out any set hours, they can't be prevented from working for other people, and they can't be fired for not taking on extra tasks.

Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden says the Government is looking to change the law next year.

"Most of this has been built through case law over time, so it's not actually clear enough in the law how individual contract arrangements work."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Our workplace rules are in for a shake up. Government
looking to change the Employment Relations Act to make it
easier to define who's an employee who's a contractor. Workplace
Relations and Safety Minister Brook van Builden is with us
on all of this. Very good morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Good morning mate.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
What's the timeframe on this, Because you're on the program
a couple of weeks ago and ask you the same question,
you're being all coy about it then, so what's changed
and what's the timeframe?

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Well, see, what this government has committed to under the
Coalition agreement is to provide more certainty for contractors and
employees about the distinction between contract arrangements. So we're clarifying
that under the law to provide a new gateway test
which says if you meet for criteria, then you will

(00:44):
be found as a individual contractor. So that means if
you've got a written agreement where it says written down
that you are an independent contractor and that's the relationship
that you can work for other people and have other
agreements that you don't have set hours or if there
are set hours, that you can subcontract out and your
contract not going to be terminated because you don't want

(01:07):
to take on an extra task outside of it. Now
a business and a worker can meet all of those requirements,
and that's an independent contractor relationship above and beyond what's
in the current law. So what this does is it
provides a better clarity for everybody. So that's better for
all kiwis when I'm hoping to get this through. I'm

(01:29):
hoping to get this law into parliaments next year.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Okay, So does the law not do that with the
level of clarity you're happy with? And or is this
tied up with the uber situation? And or will this
new law with its new clarity necessarily mean that people
still don't go to court to try it on.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Well, we know, we know there are a range of
businesses and workers who don't know whether or not they
are employees or contractors, or they're not sure, so they're
testing this under the courts because most of this has
been built through case law over time, so it's not
actually clear enough in the law how individual contract arrangements work.

(02:14):
So that's what we're here to provide that clarity for.
Because at the heart of this, we want kiwis in work.
We want businesses to be providing people with opportunity, and
we know that when you have a flexible labor market
it has better productivity for everyone. But that's what we're
here to provide for. But we know that even with

(02:34):
current cases, there's been a lot of uncertainty in the
business community and business confidence has been really down under
the last government. So we're here to build back business
confidence and get more people into work with certain arrangements.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
Good stuff go well, well, that appreciated very much. The
clearer you make it, the better it is. Brooklyn Velden,
Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety. There's a woman unionist
on the news last night who was going, you know,
why don't they wait until the courts? And what's never
I never understood about particularly unionists like that is do
they not understand the ultimate court in this country is
the government. You can go to court too, your blue

(03:08):
in the face. We're seeing a lot of this with
the Waitangi Tribunal, which is not really a court, it's tribunal.
It's got no teeth. But nevertheless, people just wander off
thinking that they can because they don't like the law
of the day, they'll try and change it. They get
some sort of ruling or judgment from the court, interventionist
courts these days, and that encourages people, of course. And
this Uber case is a classic, and if you haven't
followed it, do follow it. Because four drivers are telling

(03:30):
the rest of the yuber workforce that what they like
and what they joined isn't good enough and they want
it different. And it looks like at this point anyway,
Uber's going to appeal. I think they're going to appeal,
but it looks like at this point, four drivers beats
out the hundreds of other drivers who took on an
arrangement that they were perfectly happy with because the union's
backed them. Free choice A remember that. For more from

(03:53):
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