Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu Specialist and Support Staff Collective Agreement

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Email: employment.relations@education.govt.nz

Part 8: Termination of Employment

Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu Specialist and Support Staff Collective Agreement
Effective from 1 December 2022 to 1 December 2024

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  • 8.1 Notice / Abandonment of Employment
    • 8.1.1 Unless otherwise agreed, the employee shall give the employer one month’s notice of termination and the employer shall give the employee one month’s notice of termination, or if mutually agreed a payment in lieu of notice, except in cases of serious misconduct which may warrant instant dismissal.

      8.1.2 Where an employee is absent from work for a continuous period exceeding three working days without the consent of the employer and without good cause or without notification to the employer they shall be deemed to have terminated their employment.

  • Note
    • Note: The following clauses from Part 8 do not apply to fixed term employees to whom Part 4C applies: clause 8.1; clause 8.3; clause 8.4.

  • 8.2 Discipline and Dismissal
    • 8.2.1 The following principles are to be followed when dealing with disciplinary matters:

        1. The employee must be advised of their right to request union assistance and/or representation at any stage.
        2. The employee must be advised of the specific matter(s) causing concern and a reasonable opportunity provided for the employee to state any reasons or explanations.
        3. The employee must be advised of the corrective action required to amend their conduct and given a reasonable opportunity to do so.
        4. Before any substantive disciplinary action is taken, an appropriate investigation is to be undertaken by management.
        5. Depending upon the seriousness of the misconduct an oral warning should usually precede a written warning.
        6. The process and results of any disciplinary action is to be recorded in writing, sighted by the employee and placed on their personal file.
        7. If the offence is sufficiently serious an employee is to be placed on suspension pending an investigation under (d).
        8. An employee aggrieved by any action taken by an employer must be advised on their right to pursue a grievance in terms of the personal grievance procedure.
  • 8.3 Restructuring and Surplus Staffing
    • 8.3.1 The parties to this agreement and those bound by this agreement recognise the serious consequences that the loss of employment can have on individual employees and propose to minimise this as far as possible by using the provisions in this agreement to keep as many employees as possible in employment.

      8.3.2 The restructuring of the whole or any part of the employer’s operation will be undertaken through a change management process, this process will include development of any new or significantly changed positions. During this process employees will be consulted and given an opportunity for feedback and/or contribution.

      8.3.3 Following a change management process a surplus staffing situation may arise when the work undertaken by the employee ceases to exist or is significantly changed. This may be the result of the restructuring of the whole or any part of the employer’s operations because of, for example:

        • the reorganisation or review of work;
        • staffing or work practices relevant to the individual employee; or
        • merger, change of status or closure of Te Kura, or the sale or transfer of all or part of Te Kura.

      8.3.4 Should a surplus staffing situation arise the employer will consult with the union in regard to a reasonable timeframe. The first option that will be examined is retraining and/or redeployment. Declaring an employee redundant is the last option. The employer will consult with the employee to examine all the available options. One of the purposes of consultation is to encourage the suggestion of options, which may suit the employee. These may include items such as shortened notice, extended notice, redeployment or other options the employee may favour.

      8.3.5 The employer will endeavour to redeploy the person to a suitable alternative position either within the organisation or elsewhere. In any redeployment situation the agreement of the employee (which cannot be unreasonably withheld) will be sought.

      8.3.6 A suitable alternative position would be one which:

        • involves duties that are reasonable given the employee’s skills, abilities and employment history which may entail on the job training provided by the employer
        • has terms and conditions, including any service related and redundancy conditions and any conditions relating to superannuation, that are no less favourable
        • is at the same location or within reasonable commuting distance
        • does not place an unreasonable imposition on the employee’s individual circumstances.

      Where an offer of a suitable alternative position is made the employee is not entitled to a redundancy payment.

      8.3.7 Where the employer offers the employee a position, which is not a suitable alternative position, a salary protection package shall be negotiated if the position attracts a lower salary rate. The duration of the salary protection package will be negotiated between the parties; however, it shall not be for a period greater than two years. If the employee accepts the position they will not be entitled to a redundancy payment.

      8.3.8 Employees who are not redeployed to another position shall be given a minimum of one month’s written notice of termination of employment.

      8.3.9 During the notice period both the employer and the employee shall make reasonable efforts to locate alternative employment for the employee. The employer will provide reasonable paid time to attend interviews where the employee has obtained the employer’s prior approval (which shall not be unreasonably withheld).

  • 8.4 Redundancy Payment
    • In the event that an employee is made redundant they are entitled to redundancy payments as per the following provisions. Payment will be based on the following:

        • One month's notice of redundancy or payment in lieu of notice; and
        • 10 percent of total ordinary pay for the preceding 12 months; and
        • 4.165 percent of total ordinary pay for the preceding 12 months for one person (other than a dependent child) who is dependent on the employee; and
        • 8.33 percent of total ordinary pay for the preceding 12 months for each dependent child.

      "Continuous Service" means service at Te Kura.

      "Dependent child" means all children up to the age of 15 years and all children between the ages of 15 and 18 who are not:

        1. in paid employment; or
        2. in receipt of a state benefit; or
        3. in receipt of a basic grant or an independent circumstances grant under the Student Allowances Regulations; and
        4. including those for whom the employee is paying maintenance in terms of Ministry of Social Development requirements and those for whom liable parent contributions are made.

      Where both parents are declared surplus, only one parent can claim for dependent children. It is the employee’s choice as to which one claims.

      "Dependent person" means a person who is dependent on the employee and who earns an annual taxable income of $23,492 or less.

      “Ordinary pay” is defined as basic taxable salary, plus regular taxable allowances paid on a continuous basis, except in the case of employees on parental leave where ordinary pay shall be ordinary pay at the time of taking leave.

      These payments are regardless of length of service but are conditional on finishing on an agreed date.

      In addition, an employee with 12 months or more continuous service will receive:

        • 10 percent of total ordinary pay for the preceding 12 months; and
        • 4 percent of total ordinary pay for the preceding 12 months multiplied by the number of years of continuous service minus one, up to a maximum of 15; and
        • 0.333 percent of total ordinary pay for the preceding 12 months multiplied by the number of completed months in addition to completed years of service, provided total service is less than 16 years; and
        • 5 percent of total ordinary pay for the preceding 12 months multiplied by the number of years of continuous service between 16 and 19 years; and
        • 0.416 percent of total ordinary pay for the preceding 12 months multiplied by the number of completed months in addition to completed years of continuous service provided total service in years is between 16 and 19 and less than 20 years.

      Note: The total amount paid to an employee under the above provisions (excluding the payments made for dependents and for the notice period) shall not exceed $42,000.

      Cessation Leave in accordance with the scales below will be paid, subject to the leave being reduced by the amount of paid anticipated retiring leave already taken where this applies.

      Qualification Required Amount of Leave
      Under 5 years’ service Nil
      Completion of 5 and under 10 years’ service 22 working days
      Completion of 10 years and under 15 years’ service 44 working days
      Completion of 15 years and under 25 years’ service 65 working days

      Cessation Leave (days) for employees with 25 years or more service

      Years 0 months 2 months 4 months 6 months 8 months 10 months
      25 65 66 66 67 68 69
      26 69 70 71 71 72 73
      27 74 74 75 76 76 77
      28 78 79 79 80 81 81
      29 82 83 84 84 85 86
      30 86 87 88 89 89 90
      31 91 91 92 93 94 94
      32 95 96 96 97 98 99
      33 99 100 101 101 102 103
      34 104 104 105 106 106 107
      35 108 109 109 110 111 111
      36 112 113 114 114 115 116
      37 116 117 118 119 119 120
      38 121 121 122 123 124 125
      39 125 126 126 127 128 129
      40 131          

      “Service” for the purposes of the surplus staffing provisions shall mean service within Te Kura. Employees who were last appointed to Te Kura (previously known as The Correspondence School) prior to 1 January 1997 who had conditions in relation to “service” in excess of those defined above will continue to be eligible for their entitlements according to the conditions which existed at the time of their appointment.

      In addition the employee will be paid for any outstanding annual leave.

  • 8.5 Employee Protection Provisions
    • 8.5.1 Where work undertaken by an employee covered by this Agreement will be, or is likely to be undertaken by a new employer the employer will:

        • Provide the new employer with details of the work currently performed by the employees concerned together with details of the terms and conditions of their employment; and
        • Seek a proposal for the employment (if any) of the affected employees by the new employer, including the terms and conditions upon which those employees would be offered employment by the new employer; and
        • Arrange to meet with the new employer for the purpose of negotiating on the proposal; and
        • Notify the National Office of the union where any affected employees are union members; and

      Note that the notice provisions of the surplus staffing provisions in this Agreement shall apply.

      8.5.2 The following shall be matters for negotiation with the new employer in relation to employees affected by the restructuring and again should be read in conjunction with the surplus staffing provisions:

        • The number and type of positions that may be offered by the new employer to employees affected by the restructuring; and
        • The terms and conditions of employment to be offered to those employees (including whether the employees will transfer to the new employer on the same terms and conditions of employment); and
        • The arrangements, if required, for the transfer of any accrued benefits and entitlements in relation to those employees; and
        • The arrangements, if required, for when and how offers of employment are to be made to the affected employees and the mode of acceptance.

      8.5.3 The process to be followed at the time of the restructuring to determine what entitlements, if any, are available for employees who do not transfer to the new employer are set out in clause 8.3. This clause as a whole shall be read in conjunction with those provisions.