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Employment Relations Act 2000

Individual employees' terms and conditions of employment - Specific terms and conditions of employment

67G: Cancellation of shifts

You could also call this:

“Rules about changing or stopping your work times that you and your boss agreed on”

If you work shifts, your employer can’t cancel your shift unless your employment agreement says how much notice they must give you and how much they must pay you if they don’t give enough notice.

If your employer wants to cancel your shift, they must either give you the notice stated in your agreement or pay you the amount specified in your agreement if they don’t give enough notice.

The notice period in your agreement should consider things like the nature of your employer’s business, the type of work you do, and your agreed work hours.

The compensation amount should consider the notice period, how much you would have earned for the shift, and any costs you might have had in getting ready for the shift.

You’re entitled to what you would have earned for a shift if:

  • Your agreement doesn’t follow these rules
  • You’re not told about the cancellation until you arrive for your shift
  • Part of your shift is cancelled after you’ve started working

If you’re entitled to be paid for a cancelled shift, this payment counts as part of your regular pay for holiday pay calculations.

Your employer can’t cancel your shift if doing so would go against your employment agreement.

In this law, a shift means work that is continuous or nearly continuous and may happen at different times on different days of the week.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM6803008.

Topics:
Work and jobs > Worker rights
Rights and equality > Anti-discrimination
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Part 6 Individual employees' terms and conditions of employment
Specific terms and conditions of employment

67GCancellation of shifts

  1. This section applies in relation to an employee who is required under the employee’s employment agreement to undertake shift work.

  2. The employer must not cancel a shift of the employee unless the employee’s employment agreement specifies—

  3. a reasonable period of notice that must be given before the cancellation of a shift; and
    1. reasonable compensation that must be paid to the employee if the employer cancels a shift of the employee without giving the specified notice.

      1. In cancelling a shift of an employee, the employer must—

      2. give the employee the notice specified in the employee’s employment agreement under subsection (2)(a); or
        1. if that notice is not given, pay to the employee the compensation specified in the employee’s employment agreement under subsection (2)(b).

          1. The period of notice specified under subsection (2)(a) must be determined having regard to all relevant factors, including—

          2. the nature of the employer’s business, including the employer’s ability to control or foresee the circumstances that have given rise to the proposed cancellation; and
            1. the nature of the employee’s work, including the likely effect of the cancellation on the employee; and
              1. the nature of the employee’s employment arrangements, including whether there are agreed hours of work in the employee’s employment agreement and, if so, the number of guaranteed hours of work (if any) included among those agreed hours.

                1. Compensation specified under subsection (2)(b) must be determined having regard to all relevant matters, including the following:

                2. the period of notice specified in the employee’s employment agreement under subsection (2)(a):
                  1. the remuneration that the employee would have received for working the shift:
                    1. whether the nature of the work requires the employee to incur any costs in preparing for the shift.

                      1. Without limiting subsection (5), an employee is entitled to what he or she would have earned for working a shift if—

                      2. the shift is cancelled and the employee’s employment agreement does not comply with this section; or
                        1. the shift is cancelled, but the employee has not been notified of the cancellation until the commencement of the shift; or
                          1. the remainder of a shift is cancelled after the shift has begun.

                            1. If an employee whose shift is cancelled is entitled, under his or her employment agreement or under subsection (6), to the remuneration that he or she would have earned for working the shift, that remuneration is a part of the employee’s ordinary weekly pay and relevant daily pay for the purposes of sections 8 and 9 of the Holidays Act 2003.

                            2. To avoid doubt, nothing in this section enables an employer to cancel an employee’s shift if that cancellation would breach the employee’s employment agreement.

                            3. In this section, shift means a period of work performed in a system of work in which periods of work—

                            4. are continuous or effectively continuous; and
                              1. may occur at different times on different days of the week.

                                Notes
                                • Section 67G: inserted, on , by section 9 of the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 9).