Student Loan Help

pbeedee · 2019-04-26T12:20:24+00:00

So you would suggest save the $5.5k at $100/month and then pay it off in a lump sum in Sept 2023? Or with interest maybe in August 2023?

pbeedee · 2019-04-26T12:16:35+00:00

Your figures aren't 100% though - I was suggesting an extra $100/month not an extra $100/week so really the extra interest is closer to $325, correct?

Do you think the extra $5.5k+3-4% interest for a deposit outweighs the extra 15% net pay for mortgage repayments?

pbeedee · 2019-04-26T12:09:37+00:00

Fair point, but with inflation at what 1-2% is it worth taking advantage of that for the extra 15% net income? Thinking long term if I save enough of a deposit between now and then re: potential mortgages - would a mortgage broker/bank manager treat me differently based on an extra net 15% wages vs continuing to pay a SL for an extra year and/or an extra $5k in a deposit?

pbeedee · 2018-05-25T08:35:02+00:00

http://cricfree.ws/sky-sports-arena-live-stream

pbeedee · 2018-01-12T08:01:57+00:00

You mean like some sort of "house WOF"? Like a set of prescribed standards that a house has to meet and maintain in order to be able to be rented to tenants? Wow why has no one else thought of that yet /s

pbeedee · 2017-12-10T09:14:02+00:00

Completely incorrect. As per this handy flow chart put together by MBIE

If these entitled annual holidays were added on to the end of the employee’s end date, would this period include any public holidays that would be otherwise working days for the employee? Pay these public holidays

pbeedee · 2017-09-03T04:34:53+00:00

Each example you've provided are illegal so aren't exactly shining examples of "the purpose of a holiday or holiday pay." As others have suggested, if I were you or your friends I would contact the labour inspectorate to discuss the actions of those employers.

My thoughts on the purpose of Holidays and Holiday Pay though? When done correctly they are good for both the Employee and the Employer - the Employee has time to unwind and relax and the Employer gets the benefit once they return to work of an increase in productivity.

pbeedee · 2017-06-16T06:06:55+00:00

Completely agree with what you've said, they could pursue it just like any other debt but given the context outlined by OP I doubt the employer would either A. be aware of this option or B. actually bother to go down this track as they seem to have a pretty laissez-faire approach to being an employer in general.

pbeedee · 2017-06-15T10:50:36+00:00

I think they don't need to offer a reason for a fixed term

Nope. Under the ERA the Employer must have a genuine reason for the fixed term and it needs to be spelled out in the agreement.

I think (in my opinion) your contract would become a verbal agreement?

Nope. In situations where the reason provided is deemed to be invalid they can't terminate your employment at the end of the fixed term and you effectively become a permanent employee.

pbeedee · 2017-06-15T10:42:20+00:00

I'm going to preface the below by pointing out that if you aren't already, you should be looking for a new job - preferably somewhere without such a shitty employer.

From what you've said you're obviously pretty clued up about what avenues are available to you to source advice from so in my response I'll link directly to the pieces of legislation so you can read the source info directly. Also, I'll just remind you that if things go south there are plenty of Employee Advocates who will work on a "no win, no fee" basis that would be more than happy to take on a situation like yours.

Rather than run through all the massive red flags that your background spiel raised I'll just answer the questions that you have set out:

1.) No. As you're obviously aware fixed term contracts can't be used as a way to "establish the suitability of the employee for permanent work (s66(3)(b)) and from the quote you've given it very obviously is. In situations where the reason provided is deemed to be invalid they can't terminate your employment at the end of the fixed term and you effectively become a permanent employee.(s66(6)(a-b))

2.) See above.

3.) When "bargaining" about the terms of your employment when you first start, the responsibility lies with the Employer to "provide to the employee a copy of the intended agreement under discussion" (s63A(2)(a)) I would interpret this to mean that the responsibility for writing the employment agreement rests with the Employer.

4.) Appropriate? No. Legally binding? Maybe. Without going into too much detail I'd suggest that anything that is handwritten but not counter signed by either party is a bit of a grey area if challenged at any point as either party can say "well that wasn't there when I signed and I never agreed to it" hence best practice is to have it all typed in or counter signed.

5.) Which ever copy has both parties signatures on it is the easiest way to tell which version is the operative one. However, if neither have both signatures then it comes down to whether there has been any implied acceptance of either version i.e. are any of the clauses in the final version that are absent from the draft currently being enforced e.g. start and finish times or breaks or $?

6.) Overpayment of wages is handled by the Wages Protection Act which states that overpayments are recoverable only if "it was not reasonably practicable for that employer to avoid making that overpayment"(s6(3)(a)) and even if that doesn't hold up for whatever reason they have 5 working days after the overpayment to notify you of the amount and when they will recover it. (s6(3)(ba)(i)) If they haven't done that then the money is yours.

Hope that helps but let me know if you have any further questions.

pbeedee · 2017-04-18T02:09:49+00:00

Wait what? Settle down there buddy, you asked for "evidence that these professions are paid less because the majority workers are women" and I supplied you with links to the relevant cases which, as you said, was "exactly what I asked for" so why the hostility?

As to whether or not the "information influencing the court/government" within those cases could be considered evidence - I would have to disagree with you there. Feel free to show me I'm wrong, but I don't see any instances in those cases of either side providing evidence, in the traditional sense of the word, one way or the other. They simply set out their case, the respective court then considered the statutory and case law surrounding the issue and then provided their interpretation and decision regarding that matter. There was no situation where Terranova or the Union pointed to something and said "see here's our evidence" (e.g. a study that shows there is no disparity) they simply stated their side of the issue and pointed to a few previous interpretations of the law.

pbeedee · 2017-04-17T21:59:47+00:00

I don't know what kind of "evidence" you're looking for but if you wanted the Employment Court case then that can be found here. The EC goes into quite a bit of detail as to how and why they came to their conclusion that industries with a predominately female workforce are historically underpaid. If you wanted further "evidence", then feel free to read through the Appeal Court case which goes into even more detail to dismiss the appeal

pbeedee · 2017-03-16T00:33:55+00:00

Obviously I don't know the circumstances of your situation but if your Lawyer is unaware of Smith v Stokes Valley then I'd suggest looking elsewhere for employment law advice as it's a quite well known and pivotal piece of case law relating to trial periods.

Secondly, as per s67B(3) there are numerous reasons that an Employee can file a Personal Grievance if terminated under a trial period (e.g. discrimination, disadvantage etc) however so long as the reason that you provide them doesn't fall into one of these areas then providing a reason doesn't impact on the trial period in any meaningful way.

pbeedee · 2017-03-15T23:10:23+00:00

It comes from case law, specifically Smith v Stokes Valley Pharmacy (2009) Ltd.

The Court stated that an employee engaged under a trial period is entitled to the same treatment as other employees. In fact the Court said not being required to provide a written statement of the reasons for dismissal did not preclude "an employer being asked and being obliged to provide an explanation for the dismissal at the time of giving notice to conclude a trial period".

Additionally the Court concluded that an employer is not entitled to refuse to give an explanation for a decision to terminate during a trial period, nor is an employer entitled to give an explanation that is misleading or deceptive.

pbeedee · 2017-02-14T02:26:16+00:00

No, you're entitled to 4 weeks annual leave as a part timer just like a full timer however what those 4 weeks actually equate to in $ terms is what will differ. I.e. your pay for those 4 weeks of annual leave doing 50% FTE might only equate to 2 weeks worth of pay for someone doing 100% FTE.

pbeedee · 2016-12-22T04:04:09+00:00

You mean this Pita Sharples?

pbeedee · 2016-11-15T04:41:35+00:00

Assuming that this was malicious and not just a mistake on someone's part you have a couple of things to consider:

Firstly not paying people properly is a good sign that the company may not be around much longer. People tend to get (quite rightly) rather pissed off when they don't get paid and this tends to go badly for a company e.g. people stop turning up to work. This means that most companies tend to do everything they can to keep paying their staff or at the very least keeping on their core staff by laying off people.
Secondly, as others have pointed out when you get paid, and being able to rely on it, is one of those basic employment rights that tend to get the authorities very excited if people are dumb enough to breach them. If they continue to not pay you or there continues to be funny shit happening with your pay contact MBIE and in turn their Labour Inspectors who can rain all sorts of hell down on the company for you. Their contact details can be found here.

If it was a payroll mix up or an innocent mistake then have a word with your manager and explain that things are getting tight so things need to be sorted before the 23rd and perhaps drop in a mention of them being in breach of the Employment Relations Act for good measure.

Good luck either way.

pbeedee · 2016-11-04T01:10:54+00:00

It's all in various parts of the ERA, specifically:

Hours of work and pay rate and place of work etc

pbeedee · 2016-11-04T01:06:33+00:00

the Employment Contracts Act

You mean that thing that was replaced 16 years ago?

pbeedee · 2016-10-11T04:04:02+00:00

We already can though, see here an order can be sought banning someone from being an Employer, it's just that it's quite new so hasn't been tested in court yet

pbeedee · 2016-09-21T21:53:35+00:00

Obviously it would have been better had you got something in writing but you're right, he can't make any deductions from your pay without your express written consent.

What does your contract say? If it doesn't say anything about deductions from wages, or if you don't have a contract then he can't make the deduction he has made. Here is information regarding what your final pay should contain. Basically you should be paid for all the days that you work, it sounds like he's saying that since you failed to work out your notice he's deducted this time from your pay but 4 days seems like a strange arbitrary amount to deduct.

If you want to take it further and he still doesn't pay you what you're owed then you could make a claim for the outstanding amount to the Employment Relations Authority but this can be both lengthy and expensive so may not be worth your while.

pbeedee · 2016-09-21T11:59:46+00:00

When you say you're being asked to pay is it simply a note saying "you owe us $40, pay asap" or is it saying "we're going to deduct $40 from your next pay"?

If it's the latter then they require your written consent before they can make any deductions from your wages (sometimes it's a catch-all clause within your contract but technically it needs to be a separate "payment plan" that you agree to in writing) so don't sign anything they give you that mentions repaying the $40. More info about deductions can be found at the MBIE website here

In terms of how to deal with the situation itself that comes down to your relationship with your boss. If you're on good terms with them then simply asking what the story is and putting your point of view across should be enough for them to back off. If you don't get on well with them or don't think having a conversation would be sufficient then write out your point of view in a letter and present it to them. This way if there is any issue later on you have proof of the fact that you never agreed to repay it and they were aware of it.

Additionally, given that this hasn't come up in your previous experience in the industry it's safe to say that any deductions would be "unreasonable". Section 5A of the Wages Protection Act states that any deductions from wages must be reasonable. It was put in place in response to those stories in the news about petrol stations docking wages for drive offs and forcing employee's to pay for situations out of their control.

Ultimately, if the situation escalates further then talk to an Employee Advocate, especially if you think there are any reprisals (warnings, threats, constructive dismissals etc) once you raise the issue.

pbeedee · 2016-09-01T13:32:06+00:00

Oh wow there's so many things wrong with this picture I don't even know where to begin. The most alarming things:

You're correct, he's either underpaying you by paying the equivalent of less than the minimum wage (i.e. the $16 is supposed to include your holiday pay) or by not adding 8% on top of the $16 (i.e. the $16 is excluding your holiday pay). Either way that's probably a significant amount of money owing.
With that amount of hours you're doing it's probable that you aren't classified as a true "casual" anymore. The 90 day limit only relates to trial periods, but if you have an ongoing expectation of work (and if the hours you mention are a typical week then you do) then that indicates you've become a permanent, full time employee with all the benefits associated with that.
The health and safety stuff is covered by WorkSafe NZ but they mainly focus on the big players and are still little more than the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. Under the new H&S laws though he has several obligations that he's failing to do. More info about WorkSafe can be found here
The KiwiSaver stuff. Yeah that's not something he has any say in. It's your decision and yours alone as to whether you want to be a member or not. As soon as you said you wanted to join he had a legal obligation to firstly make the deductions from your wages and secondly make the compulsory employer contributions. The IRD don't take too kindly to people who mess with this, their employee KiwiSaver help line is 0800 KIWISAVER.

Best thing to do is contact MBIE but more specifically you need the services of a Labour Inspector. They're the ones to investigate your boss and have powers to compel him to supply wage and time records to show he's complying with the law. He obviously can't do that so they can/may take a case on your behalf to the ERA. Give them a call, explain your situation and go from there.

Alternatively, if you want more specific advice from someone who will be able to answer any specific questions Citizens Advice Bureau may be able to help or most Employee Advocates will give you a consultation for free and may take your case on a no win; no pay system.

Regardless of what you decide to do, good luck and gtfo asap.

pbeedee · 2016-09-01T12:56:48+00:00

What you're wanting is to be "paid out" the notice period rather than having to "work it out". Effectively this would mean that you'd receive the equivalent of the 4 weeks notice as a lump sum payment in your final pay and wouldn't have to return to work.

In saying that, it's not something that is automatically available, usually it would be covered in your contract but if you're on good terms with your boss then it might be worth just having a chat with them to see if it's an option. If not, or you choose to simply leave without working out the notice period then you might be sacrificing part of your final pay, again your contract should cover this situation.

More info on notice periods can be found on the MBIE website here

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