September 1, 2025 • 8 mins
Hilary Copland of Bannerman Cruickshank Pryde talks employment contracts and what you need to know around the ninety day trial.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
We don't get hold again. Welcome back. You're listening to
the muster on Hak and Nui. I'm Andy Mueller. Our
next guest is Hillary Copeland from Bataman Crunkshank Pride the
Lawyers based right here and go.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hillary House eggs, Good Andy, how are you?
Speaker 1 (00:20):
I'm not too bad? Employment basics, it's a very very
relevant topic, especially when it comes to allow me or
carving time. But there's certain things in there. We just
take this right back to the very base. It's about
what we need to know about this. Hillary, well, some
common things that often get overlooked.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
And I guess that's something that's just come up recently.
I've had someone talked to me about this, and I
guess there's two key things I thought it would be
worth refreshing on, which is one that is employment agreements
and the other is performance issues and employment disputes. Oh,
employment agreements, I feel like I've talked to I know
(00:57):
I've talked about this before, but legally you everyone should
have an e written employment agreement, and that includes things
like renunerration, leave, entitlements, any dispute resolution, provisions, termination, et cetera.
And a lot of those things are governed by the law,
and they are already minimum entitlements such as sick leave
(01:19):
and a bereavement leave and annual leaving things. What is
really important, I think, so we can set up ten
plate agreements, but the key thing is effectively having a
shoe tool and having a good job description, because I
think that helps with the longevity of an employment relationship,
that people know where they're at. The other thing that
(01:42):
comes across our desk quite a lot, and there's been
a change in in the law relatively recently, is ninety
day trial periods. So lots of people know that you
can have a ninety day trial period, but they don't
know the key criteria for it to be valid. So
I thought it was worth touching on that because I
people say, oh, I've got a ninety day trial and
(02:03):
I'm like, no, sorry, you haven't met the requirements. So
for a ninety day trial period to be valid, the
employee must not have worked for the employer previously. It
must be communicated and writing to the employee, ie in
their employment contract, and that contract must be signed before
they commence work. They also need a part of that
(02:26):
contract will also say that they have sufficient time to
get legal advice, so that needs to be covered off.
And then because really important, all of that has done
before that commits employment. And then if you need the
benefit of the ninety day trial, it's effectively a you know,
to see if they can do what you're hoping they can,
(02:47):
and if they don't meet your needs within ninety days,
then you can dismiss them, and they you can give
them notice of termination within that ninety days and they
are not impowerful to bring up personal grievance to any
other legal proceedings in relation to the dismissal process. So
for some people it's a really beneficial clause to have
(03:10):
in a contract. There was a time there where it
was only available for employee ers with less than twenty employees,
but it's that to open up now to all employers. See,
that's something to be mindful of for keep in mind
when you're hiring people.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Hillary, Are we still seeing people going into jobs and
there's no employment contracts to be signed? Is that still
a thing?
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Yes? And I'd say probably the farming sector is probably
a little bit bad at that. You know, Historically, I
think a lot of the farming sector in particular it's
you know, it's word of mouth and reputation, and I'm
still a big advocate and that kind of think. You
(03:56):
know your reputations everything, whatever sector you're in. But yeah,
I just see so many dispute matters come up. So
it's like, let's you have it in writing. And I
ever say that deral description is really helpful because you've
got a clear record of what the intention is and
any and especially again in the farming sector, there's lots
(04:18):
of hurts to the job. You know, it might be
getting a I don't know, a mutton or half kettlebef
or whatever, all of those things as that is part
of the package. Let's just write it down. So there's
no arguments or wet weather gear, you know, wet with
a gear, annually new converage, whatever it is. You know.
I know I've twisted my husband's arm at home to
(04:40):
get onto that. And I think often you just have
one staff members so you get a bit relaxed about it.
But I think we need to be better at doing it.
And it just means there's no gray area in this
room for disputes going forward.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
So the ninety days as far as an agricultural sense,
so it's pretty pragmatic thinking I suppose, like I've been there,
done that, you've got an individual on farm, they don't
meet your criteria. But unfortunately, a lot of the time
you're seeing everything placed in the power of the employee,
and as an employee, you just find it really frustrating
because you're trying to run a business. You need the
(05:16):
right staff.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah, and there's certain yeah, yeah, as I say, it
used to it used to be available to everyone. Then
there was a period where it was only available for
if you had nineteen or less employees or small to
medium size, and now it's opened back up again. So
it is quite a handy tool. And I think if
you go in and say, right, we're going to do
this ninety day, let's see how it works out, there's
(05:39):
no one's under any illusions. And I guess that's the
other thing. I guess that leads me onto the next part,
which is performance issues and disputes. So you know, like anything,
nothing's guaranteed to be perfect and forever. So the key
thing with leading on to that, you know, touching on
(06:00):
sports issues in any employment disputes as an employer, all
the Employment Relations Act is based on acting in good
faith and acting fairly and reasonably. So what we what
I often see is I'll have an employer come to
me because they've got an employee who's not performing to
the standard required. They're either outside their ninety day period
(06:22):
or didn't have that clause. All their pay is not
meeting the expected standards, so they might have been teetering
into misconduct or serious misconduct territory. So the days of
pulling an employee aside and having a word are gone.
(06:42):
And I feel like the farming sector probably historically was
quite notorious for taking that approach because reputation was everything
and let's just be pragmatic and get on with it.
But it's an again, and everyone's best interested to have
a more formal process. So if you have a formal process,
it means that you can go down that disciplinary route
(07:08):
if you need to. So it might be that you
issue are written warning, or you set up performance review
process and worst case scenario ends and termination of the
employment relationship. If you only have informal discussions and there's
no written record, if you come to me, I'm going
to say, well, we've got to start from scratch, because
you need to be doing everything right and having it
(07:33):
it's your word against the word kind of thing. But
if you've dealt with it properly, you've got a good
written record. Often the issue can get sorted relatively simply
and the parties move on. And if it doesn't get sorted,
at least you've got those formal records and you can
progress it if you need into a formal disciplinary procedure.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Hillary to tell you a Batamin Crooks Young Pride the
best way for people to get in touch.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Check us out on our websites aplaw dot co, dot mzeed.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Hillary Copeland always appreciate your time on the.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Muster Awesome thand.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Hillary Copeland of Benamin Crooksheng Pride the Lawyers On a
Tuesday afternoon, Mackenzie Freyer's up next from West to Taga
Young Farmers and before the end of the hour, Thomas
O'Brien based up there in Gaston
We don't get hold again. Welcome back. You're listening to
the muster on Hak and Nui. I'm Andy Mueller. Our
next guest is Hillary Copeland from Bataman Crunkshank Pride the
Lawyers based right here and go.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hillary House eggs, Good Andy, how are you?
Speaker 1 (00:20):
I'm not too bad? Employment basics, it's a very very
relevant topic, especially when it comes to allow me or
carving time. But there's certain things in there. We just
take this right back to the very base. It's about
what we need to know about this. Hillary, well, some
common things that often get overlooked.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
And I guess that's something that's just come up recently.
I've had someone talked to me about this, and I
guess there's two key things I thought it would be
worth refreshing on, which is one that is employment agreements
and the other is performance issues and employment disputes. Oh,
employment agreements, I feel like I've talked to I know
(00:57):
I've talked about this before, but legally you everyone should
have an e written employment agreement, and that includes things
like renunerration, leave, entitlements, any dispute resolution, provisions, termination, et cetera.
And a lot of those things are governed by the law,
and they are already minimum entitlements such as sick leave
(01:19):
and a bereavement leave and annual leaving things. What is
really important, I think, so we can set up ten
plate agreements, but the key thing is effectively having a
shoe tool and having a good job description, because I
think that helps with the longevity of an employment relationship,
that people know where they're at. The other thing that
(01:42):
comes across our desk quite a lot, and there's been
a change in in the law relatively recently, is ninety
day trial periods. So lots of people know that you
can have a ninety day trial period, but they don't
know the key criteria for it to be valid. So
I thought it was worth touching on that because I
people say, oh, I've got a ninety day trial and
(02:03):
I'm like, no, sorry, you haven't met the requirements. So
for a ninety day trial period to be valid, the
employee must not have worked for the employer previously. It
must be communicated and writing to the employee, ie in
their employment contract, and that contract must be signed before
they commence work. They also need a part of that
(02:26):
contract will also say that they have sufficient time to
get legal advice, so that needs to be covered off.
And then because really important, all of that has done
before that commits employment. And then if you need the
benefit of the ninety day trial, it's effectively a you know,
to see if they can do what you're hoping they can,
(02:47):
and if they don't meet your needs within ninety days,
then you can dismiss them, and they you can give
them notice of termination within that ninety days and they
are not impowerful to bring up personal grievance to any
other legal proceedings in relation to the dismissal process. So
for some people it's a really beneficial clause to have
(03:10):
in a contract. There was a time there where it
was only available for employee ers with less than twenty employees,
but it's that to open up now to all employers. See,
that's something to be mindful of for keep in mind
when you're hiring people.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Hillary, Are we still seeing people going into jobs and
there's no employment contracts to be signed? Is that still
a thing?
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Yes? And I'd say probably the farming sector is probably
a little bit bad at that. You know, Historically, I
think a lot of the farming sector in particular it's
you know, it's word of mouth and reputation, and I'm
still a big advocate and that kind of think. You
(03:56):
know your reputations everything, whatever sector you're in. But yeah,
I just see so many dispute matters come up. So
it's like, let's you have it in writing. And I
ever say that deral description is really helpful because you've
got a clear record of what the intention is and
any and especially again in the farming sector, there's lots
(04:18):
of hurts to the job. You know, it might be
getting a I don't know, a mutton or half kettlebef
or whatever, all of those things as that is part
of the package. Let's just write it down. So there's
no arguments or wet weather gear, you know, wet with
a gear, annually new converage, whatever it is. You know.
I know I've twisted my husband's arm at home to
(04:40):
get onto that. And I think often you just have
one staff members so you get a bit relaxed about it.
But I think we need to be better at doing it.
And it just means there's no gray area in this
room for disputes going forward.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
So the ninety days as far as an agricultural sense,
so it's pretty pragmatic thinking I suppose, like I've been there,
done that, you've got an individual on farm, they don't
meet your criteria. But unfortunately, a lot of the time
you're seeing everything placed in the power of the employee,
and as an employee, you just find it really frustrating
because you're trying to run a business. You need the
(05:16):
right staff.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah, and there's certain yeah, yeah, as I say, it
used to it used to be available to everyone. Then
there was a period where it was only available for
if you had nineteen or less employees or small to
medium size, and now it's opened back up again. So
it is quite a handy tool. And I think if
you go in and say, right, we're going to do
this ninety day, let's see how it works out, there's
(05:39):
no one's under any illusions. And I guess that's the
other thing. I guess that leads me onto the next part,
which is performance issues and disputes. So you know, like anything,
nothing's guaranteed to be perfect and forever. So the key
thing with leading on to that, you know, touching on
(06:00):
sports issues in any employment disputes as an employer, all
the Employment Relations Act is based on acting in good
faith and acting fairly and reasonably. So what we what
I often see is I'll have an employer come to
me because they've got an employee who's not performing to
the standard required. They're either outside their ninety day period
(06:22):
or didn't have that clause. All their pay is not
meeting the expected standards, so they might have been teetering
into misconduct or serious misconduct territory. So the days of
pulling an employee aside and having a word are gone.
(06:42):
And I feel like the farming sector probably historically was
quite notorious for taking that approach because reputation was everything
and let's just be pragmatic and get on with it.
But it's an again, and everyone's best interested to have
a more formal process. So if you have a formal process,
it means that you can go down that disciplinary route
(07:08):
if you need to. So it might be that you
issue are written warning, or you set up performance review
process and worst case scenario ends and termination of the
employment relationship. If you only have informal discussions and there's
no written record, if you come to me, I'm going
to say, well, we've got to start from scratch, because
you need to be doing everything right and having it
(07:33):
it's your word against the word kind of thing. But
if you've dealt with it properly, you've got a good
written record. Often the issue can get sorted relatively simply
and the parties move on. And if it doesn't get sorted,
at least you've got those formal records and you can
progress it if you need into a formal disciplinary procedure.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Hillary to tell you a Batamin Crooks Young Pride the
best way for people to get in touch.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Check us out on our websites aplaw dot co, dot mzeed.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Hillary Copeland always appreciate your time on the.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Muster Awesome thand.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Hillary Copeland of Benamin Crooksheng Pride the Lawyers On a
Tuesday afternoon, Mackenzie Freyer's up next from West to Taga
Young Farmers and before the end of the hour, Thomas
O'Brien based up there in Gaston
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