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Employment Relations Act 2000

Strikes and lockouts - Suspension of employees during strikes

88: Suspension of non-striking employees where work not available during strike

You could also call this:

“An employer can pause work for employees who aren't striking if there's no work for them because of a strike.”

If there’s a strike, your employer might not have work for you to do if you’re not striking. In this case, your employer can suspend your job until the strike ends. This means you won’t get paid during this time.

When you go back to work after the suspension, it’s like you never left. Your service is treated as if it was continuous, so you don’t lose any rights or benefits that depend on how long you’ve been working there.

If you’re suspended because of a strike, you can challenge this decision. You can ask for a compliance order or seek other solutions under the law, such as asking for the wages you missed out on.

For this law, a ‘non-striking employee’ means someone who works for the employer but isn’t on strike.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM59981.

Topics:
Work and jobs > Worker rights
Rights and equality > Anti-discrimination
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87: Suspension of striking employees, or

“When workers go on strike, their boss can stop them from working and not pay them, but their job is still safe.”

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89: Basis of suspension, or

“This law tells employers they must explain which rule they're using when they tell a worker to stay home during a strike.”

Part 8 Strikes and lockouts
Suspension of employees during strikes

88Suspension of non-striking employees where work not available during strike

  1. Where there is a strike, and as a result of the strike an employer is unable to provide for a non-striking employee work that is normally performed by that employee, the employer may suspend the employee's employment until the strike is ended.

  2. A non-striking employee who is suspended under subsection (1) is not entitled to any remuneration by way of salary, wages, allowances, or other emoluments in respect of the period of the suspension.

  3. On the resumption of the employee's employment, that employee's service must be treated as continuous, despite the period of suspension, for the purpose of rights and benefits that are conditional on continuous service.

  4. Where a non-striking employee or group of non-striking employees is suspended under subsection (1), that employee or group of employees may—

  5. challenge the suspension by applying for the grant of a compliance order under section 137; and
    1. seek other remedies under this Act in respect of the suspension, including (without limitation) arrears of wages.

      1. In this section, non-striking employee means an employee who is in the employer's employment and who is not on strike.

      Compare
      • 1991 No 22 s 66(1), (2)