Pursuant to section 35 of the Employment Relations Act 2000, I, as Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety, have approved an amendment to the Code of Good Faith in Collective Bargaining.

The changes were recommended by a committee formed under section 36 of the Employment Relations Act 2000, to reflect the change of time in which a personal grievance may be brought as amended by the Employment Relations (Extended Time for Personal Grievance for Sexual Harassment) Amendment Act 2023. This Act extended the time in which an employee can raise a personal grievance for sexual harassment in the workplace from 90 days to 12 months.

I have approved the following amendment to the Code of Good Faith in Collective Bargaining:

On page two, under the third bullet point in paragraph 1.7, replace –

“A plain language explanation of the services available for the resolution of employment relationship problems, including a reference to the 90-day period in section 114 of the Act within which a personal grievance must be raised, and”

with –

“A plain language explanation of the services available for the resolution of employment relationship problems, including a reference to the time period to raise a personal grievance in section 114 of the Act (which is 12 months for a personal grievance relating to sexual harassment and 90 days for any other personal grievance), and”

These amendments come into force on 6 October 2023 and the updated Code of Good faith in Collective Bargaining may be found at https://www.employment.govt.nz/starting-employment/unions-and-bargaining/collective-agreements/collective-bargaining/good-faith/code-of-good-faith-in-collective-bargaining/.

Dated at Auckland this 18th day of September 2023.

Hon CARMEL SEPULONI, Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety.