Employment Advocacy Lessons and Wrap Up 2025

My dear Mum (91) says when people are in trouble at work Ruth is busy.  Unfortunately, in 2025 Mum saw me less because people did have trouble at work.  Indeed, the New Zealand employment landscape became increasingly complicated and tense, meaning Advocates at Work were contacted for Employment Law advice by significant numbers of employees in untenable situations.  Perhaps the scene changed because the ACT Party made regular policy announcements about NZ Employment Law, for example – in 2026 ACT intend to prevent employees earning over $180,000 per annum from being able to take Personal Grievances for Unjustified Dismissal.  Perhaps employers have become bolder in their actions due to these policy announcements.  Whatever the reasons for employee concerns, the team at Advocates at Work heard it all during 2025 and we are here to act when needed.

Beginning 2026, and reflecting on 2025, is the time to share some insights gained from our 2025 experience:

In 2025 the Advocates at Work Employment Advocates Ruth, Brian and David handled 100s of cases between them.  We settled numerous exit negotiations for people in biased Discipline Proceedings, or on unfair Performance Improvement Plans, and otherwise feeling forced to resign from difficult positions.  We also Represented many clients in Mediation and the Employment Relations Authority.  It is our mission to fight for fair outcomes for employees and we were proud to do that again in 2025.

2025 started with many employees facing Redundancy.  Redundancy is a litmus test in employment law.  As the economy continued to be under pressure in 2025 Redundancies continued too.  Private employers appeared to gain confidence in Redundancy processes following the National Coalition Government’s sweeping Redundancy rounds of 2023-2024.

Our advice to employees facing Redundancy is always to participate in consultation to try to retain employment.  Sell yourself again like you did at your job interview, because believe it or not the boss may not know what your day involves, so tell them.  Many employees became scared and angry that their jobs were selected for disestablishment and believe it is personal.  We always fight for the job first as it is the legal obligation of an employer to consider redeployment options and we encourage employees to propose redeployment in their consultation feedback.  If the employer fails to meet a genuine redeployment obligation the employee is highly likely to have an employment case. 

With Redundancy either an employer is going to get it right or get it wrong.  The section of the Employment Relations Act 2000 that applies is s4(1A)(c)(i-ii) where the employer must propose Redundancy with an open mind, allowing affected employees to contribute to consultation before a decision is made.  The decision to disestablish a role must not be predetermined, instead it must be because the role can be handled more efficiently some other way.  It cannot be a cover for removing an employee who has fallen out of favour.  At Advocates at Work we ask employees the right questions to unpack any missed steps in the employer’s process.  If an employer has mishandled a Redundancy we take the case forward with Personal Grievance documents and into the Employment Law Institutions e.g. Mediation.  In one memorable 2025 case the employer got the Redundancy process right, but called the employee to a sudden meeting during the notice period using it as a chance to air frustrations.  The employee was suddenly sent away from their job at this unplanned meeting and we successfully took a case for Unjustified Dismissal. 

An unfortunate feature of the Government Redundancy processes and funding cuts over recent years have been added pressures placed on employees left working in the caring professions. 2025 saw Advocates at Work’s Employment Advocates Representing an unprecedented number of Health Sector, Social Work and Local Government employees.   The stressors placed on the people in our NZ caring professions left managing when colleagues have been cut from the workforce were obvious to us in our consultations.  Stress on Managers in these environments trickled down and impacting grassroots carers.  We will never forget the Medical Practice Receptionist who asked her manager to help when a disturbed patient threatened to kill her.  This employee resigned in Constructive Dismissal circumstances because the manager could not come up with a single way to help when the patient made a death threat.

Another 2025 trend the Advocates at Work Employment Advocates managed in 2025 was overseas based employers with staff in NZ misinterpreting our Employment Laws.  Overseas companies may ‘fire at will’ as it is known in the USA and Canada, where employees have fewer employment rights and can suddenly lose their job. In Australia even Redundancy processes are handled differently with employees not involved in consultation to the degree required in NZ.  This is due to the Corporate Responsibility model in Australia, which highlights company finances over the rights of employees affected by business downturn. When overseas employers have Individual Employment Agreements with NZ based employees the company often behaves as if they would in their country of origin, and they can mishandle disciplinary and employment termination processes here.  Advocates at Work took successful Personal Grievances in these situations several times during 2025.  We are pleased our knowledge of NZ Employment Law worked well to our clients’ advantage.

NZ Employment Law was cutting-edge in 2025.  The Employment Court and the Supreme Court heard the case of NZ based Drivers against Uber’s management Rasier Operations BV in the Netherlands.  This case has paved the way for quality ‘Employee vrs Contractor’ discussion.  Our NZ based Employment Law Institutions have upheld the Drivers’ case in this ‘Employee vrs Contractor’ debate.  The NZ Employment Relations Act 2000 includes tests as to the real nature of employment and who is in control in the employment relationship.  The NZ Supreme Court found that Rasier Operations BV controlled the Uber Drivers by enforcing certain standards, disciplining and deactivating Drivers at times. Rasier Operations BV set the pricing structures and controlled the market.  The Drivers were not in control of their work to the degree a true Contractor would be.  This case has opened the door to many NZ ‘Gig Economy’ workers being able to claim minimum entitlements - minimum wage, annual leave and sick leave, and Terms and Conditions of Employment in Individual Employment Agreements.  Watch this space as the lessons from this case will be applied to many others over the next few years.

Employment Law is always developing and we expect to hear more from people who question their rights in 2026.  Workplace Flexibility is a topic of much discussion recently.  When everyone was working from home during Covid employees got used to it and some found it more productive.  We are having ever-increasing numbers of consultations with people who have been told to come back into the office.  An employee’s legal rights are not always clear and we check Individual Employment Agreements for place of work to assist employees understand if they can question the employer’s instruction.  There needs to be a balance between business efficiency and the rights of the employee and as Employment Advocates we are here to uphold your entitlements.  In another 2025 NZ Employment Law case Idea Services Limited v Wills [2025] the Employment Court found that Idea Services was Unjustified in dismissing an employee who had worked from home for the short period of her employment and who wished to continue to do so.  The organisation did not fairly consult with Ms Wills about her rationale and did not use procedural fairness when considering flexibility.  Workplace Flexibility is a topic that is gaining pace, being increasingly debated overseas too.  In Australia the Fair Work Amendment (Right to Work from Home) Bill 2025 is being debated and if accepted will give employees the right to work from home 2 days a week. If you have questions about your Workplace Flexibility rights we would be pleased to talk things through with you.

I end this 2025 Wrap Up with a Memorial for my Employment Advocacy colleague Ashleigh Fechney who worked under the name Ashleigh the Advocate.  Ashleigh was 33 and died suddenly over New Years 2026 on holiday with her husband in Lithuania.  Ashleigh started her Employment Advocacy during the Covid 19 pandemic and many will know of her work defending employees who were against Vaccination.  Since that time Ashleigh took on other complex work.  She had a sharp mind and a fierce determination.  She was an amazingly kind, professional and determined force in Employment Advocacy.  She had gone to Lithuania with her husband to look into adoption, she became very ill with flu and died after a bad reaction to medication administered overseas.  Many owe her a debt of gratitude for her inspiration and friendship, including myself.  Ashleigh you are missed.

To all New Zealand employees – keep up the good work out there and reach out to us at Advocates at Work to discuss any matter.  We are here for you.  God bless for 2026.

Ruth Pettengell

Director/Employment Advocate – Advocates at Work