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Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987

Schedule 1: Change of employer

You could also call this:

“What happens to your job if your workplace gets a new owner”

If your job is transferred to a new owner, your employment is protected. The time you worked for the old owner counts as time working for the new owner. The transfer doesn’t break your continuous employment, and both the old and new owners are considered the same employer for your employment purposes.

This protection also applies in other situations. If a company changes and you get a new employer, if your employer dies and you start working for their representatives, or if there’s a change in the partners or trustees you work for, your employment is still protected. Your work time still counts, your employment isn’t broken, and the old and new employers are treated as the same.

The same rules apply if you start working for a company that’s associated with your current employer. Companies are considered associated if one controls the other, or if they’re both controlled by a third company. In all these cases, your job and the time you’ve worked are protected.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM121795.

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Schedule 1AA: Transitional provisions relating to amendments to this Act coming into force on and after 1 April 2015, or

“Changes to parental leave rules from 2015 to 2020”

1Change of employer Empowered by s 2(2)

1

If a trade or business or an undertaking (whether or not it is an undertaking established by or under an Act) is transferred from one person to another (whether before or after the date of the commencement of this Act),—

  • the period of employment of an employee in the trade or business or undertaking at the time of the transfer shall count as a period of employment with the transferee; and
    1. the transfer shall not break the continuity of the period of employment of any employee in the trade or business or undertaking; and
      1. any employer who employed any employee in the trade or business or undertaking at any time before the transfer and the transferee shall be deemed, in relation to the employee, to be the same employer.

            1. 2

            If by or under any Act, whether passed before or after the date of the commencement of this Act, an employment agreement between any body corporate and an employee is modified and some other body corporate is substituted as the employer,—

          1. the employee's period of employment at the time when the substitution takes effect shall count as a period of employment with the second-mentioned body corporate; and
            1. the substitution shall not break the continuity of the period of employment of the employee; and
              1. the first-mentioned body corporate and the second-mentioned body corporate shall be deemed, in relation to the employee, to be the same employer.

                    1. Notes
                    • Schedule 1 clause 2: amended, on , by section 22 of the Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Paid Parental Leave) Amendment Act 2002 (2002 No 7).

                    3

                    If, on the death of an employer, an employee is taken into the employment of the personal representatives or trustees of the deceased (whether before or after the commencement of this Act),—

                  1. the employee's period of employment at the time of the death shall count as a period of employment with the employer's personal representatives or trustees; and
                    1. the death shall not break the continuity of the period of employment of the employee; and
                      1. the employer and the employer's personal representatives or trustees shall be deemed, in relation to the employee, to be the same employer.

                            1. 4

                            If there is a change (whether before or after the commencement of this Act) in the partners, personal representatives, or trustees who employ any employee,—

                          1. the employee's period of employment at the time of the change shall count as a period of employment with the partners, personal representatives, or trustees after the change; and
                            1. the change shall not break the continuity of the period of employment of the employee; and
                              1. the partners, personal representatives, or trustees who employed the employee before the change and the partners, personal representatives, or trustees who employ the employee after the change shall be deemed, in relation to the employee, to be the same employers.

                                    1. 5

                                    If (whether before or after the commencement of this Act) an employee of an employer is taken into the employment of another employer who, at the time when the employee enters that other employer's employment is an associated employer of the first-mentioned employer,—

                                  1. the employee's period of employment at that time shall count as a period of employment with the associated employer; and
                                    1. the taking of the employee into the employment of the associated employer shall not break the continuity of the period of employment; and
                                      1. the first-mentioned employer and the associated employer shall be deemed, in relation to the employee, to be the same employer.

                                            1. 6

                                            For the purposes of clause 5, any 2 employers are to be treated as associated if one is a company of which the other (directly or indirectly) has control, or if both are companies of which a third person (directly or indirectly) has control; and the expression associated employer shall be construed accordingly.