What is a 'good employer'?

 The following sources provide guidance and descriptions of a 'good employer'.

• Case law
• Exceptional workplaces
• Equal employment opportunities
• Layers of diversity
• Case studies

• There is no one recipe or template for being a ‘good employer’ as it relies on context and the facts of each case.
• The State Sector Act 1988 reaffirmed the concept of the ‘good employer’ and 'elevated it to a principle,' which permeates other pieces of legislation (such as the Crown Entities Act 2004), policy and practice.
• The concept of the ‘good employer’ is bound up with the principles of natural justice and requires employment procedures to be 'fair in all the circumstances'.
• The ‘good employer’ obligations, including administrative fairness, can readily be adapted to all stages of the employment agreement. For example, there is a duty to act fairly in appointments, recruitment, promotion, pay relativities, redundancy and so on.
• A failure to consult adequately with staff about aspects of the employment relationship and workplace practices breaches the ‘good employer’ obligations. The Employment Court requires the consultation to be more than mere notification. [1]
• The ‘good employer’ principle imposes obligations of 'trust, confidence and fair dealing'.
• In the Rankin case for example, it was stated that 'where an employer required by statute or by agreement to be a "good employer" had it in mind not to renew the fixed term employment of an employee who was eligible for reappointment by reason of dissatisfaction with his or her conduct or performance, the employer was under a duty to disclose the factors being considered so far as they were not obvious or present to the mind of the employee and to give him or her a reasonable opportunity to address the employer’s concerns'.
• The ‘good employer’ requirement may not necessarily be explicit in the employment agreement, but this does not mean that it does not apply. In one particular case, it was said that the agreement was not immune from the implied term of fairness. That implied term was bolstered by the ‘good employer’ provisions of the State Services Act 1988.
• It has been said that the duty to treat employees fairly and reasonably exists independent of statute. The statutory duty is to put in place a personnel policy that will ensure that the contractual duty is carried out.
• In a case involving constructive dismissal after a request for one year’s unpaid leave for family reasons was denied, it was argued that the ‘good employer’ notions required consideration of Māori notions of extended family.

• the aims and aspirations, employment requirements, and need for involvement of Māori as employees of the entity;
• the aims and aspirations and employment requirements and the cultural differences of ethnic or minority groups;
• the employment requirements of women, and
• the employment requirements of people with disabilities

should be taken into account when developing a ‘good employer’/EEO programme.

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