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Employment Relations Act 2000

Flexible working

69AA: Object of this Part

You could also call this:

“This part explains how workers can ask to change their work setup and how bosses should handle these requests.”

This part of the law gives you the right to ask for changes to how you work. You can ask for these changes yourself or have someone else ask for you. This doesn’t include short-term changes for people affected by family violence, which are covered in another part of the law.

When you ask for changes, your employer must respond as soon as they can. They have to give you an answer within 1 month of getting your request. Your employer can only say no to your request for certain reasons.

If your employer doesn’t handle your request properly, you can get help. First, you can talk to a Labour Inspector. If that doesn’t work, you can try mediation. If you still can’t solve the problem, you can take it to the Employment Relations Authority.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM1398201.

Topics:
Work and jobs > Worker rights
Rights and equality > Anti-discrimination
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69: Remedies for unfair bargaining, or

“What the court can do if someone wasn't fair when making a work agreement”

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69AAA: Interpretation, or

“This section explains important words and ideas used in the flexible working rules, like what counts as working arrangements and who is affected by family violence.”

Part 6AA Flexible working

69AAObject of this Part

  1. The object of this Part is to—

  2. provide employees with a statutory right to make, or to have made on their behalf, a request for a variation of their working arrangements (other than a variation covered by Part 6AB (flexible working short-term for people affected by family violence)); and
    1. require an employer to deal with a request as soon as possible but not later than 1 month after receiving it; and
      1. provide that an employer may refuse a request only if it cannot be accommodated on certain grounds; and
        1. if an employer does not deal with a request in accordance with the process specified in this Part, provide for reference of the matter to a Labour Inspector, then to mediation, and then to the Authority.

          Notes
          • Section 69AA: inserted, on , by section 5 of the Employment Relations (Flexible Working Arrangements) Amendment Act 2007 (2007 No 105).
          • Section 69AA(a): replaced, on , by section 4 of the Domestic Violence—Victims' Protection Act 2018 (2018 No 21).
          • Section 69AA(a): amended, on , by section 259(1) of the Family Violence Act 2018 (2018 No 46).
          • Section 69AA(b): amended, on , by section 22(2) of the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2014 (2014 No 61).