Employment Relations Bill

Cabinet Ministers have been giving final consideration to details of some of the proposed changes to labour legislation under the Employment Relations Bill which will be tabled in the next session of parliament.
The Bill has been a work in progress for the last 10 years. In the last two years the Bill has been through numerous consultations with employers, the Chamber of Commerce, the Workers Association and other public meetings for wide consultation.
“I am pleased to be able to finally bring to parliament an Employment Relations Bill that has been thoroughly discussed and finalized. The Employment Relations Bill will bring about improved protection to workers and modernize the current labour laws in many areas,” stated the Minister of Internal Affairs, Hon Mark Brown.
“Among the changes key areas include new protections around maternity leave, discrimination and termination. Our economy has changed considerably since the Labour Ordinance came into effect in the 1960’s. The new Bill will recognize the changed labour environment and will address the new needs of employers and employees alike.”
Government funded maternity payment
The centerpiece of the new legislation is the introduction of a new Crown funded payment for women in the workplace to enable them to take time off work on the birth of a child.
“The new maternity payment will be paid by the government for women employed in the private sector at a rate equivalent to the minimum wage for six weeks. We have decided that there should be no minimum employment service before a woman becomes entitled to this payment,” stated Brown.
“The value of the payment based on current rates is $1,200 for that six week period and is in addition to the $1,000 new born allowance introduced by this government early in our term to assist with the costs of raising a child at the time of birth.”
“Mothers and employers must clearly understand that this is an employment benefit and applies to mothers in the workforce. It is aimed at protecting a mother’s right to take time off from employment for the birth of their child and guarantees their return to employment after six weeks of maternity leave.”
The restrictions on the government paid maternity leave is that it will not extend to female foreign workers, which will be a cost to the employer. In addition, women in the public service will continue to be paid maternity leave through their immediate employer under instructions and policies determined by the Office of the Public Service Commission rather than through the new Crown funded payment. The Bill will also provide some paternity leave protections.
Rationalising the working week
The Bill seeks to balance improvements in social protection for workers against the consequential increase in costs of labor brought about by those improvements.
Overtime rates are maintained in the Bill at a rate of time and a half for all hours worked over 40 hours in any one week.
The only days that will attract double time for work will be on the 11 public holidays in the Cook Islands.
Sundays will no longer be recognized as a public holiday, and work carried out on Saturday or Sunday will be paid at normal rates unless the total hours in a week exceed 40 hours, whereupon the overtime rate of time and a half applies. However, no worker can be compelled to work on their Sabbath by their employer.
“An employee has the right to observe their Sabbath (either Saturday or Sunday) and cannot be discriminated against by an employer.”
Minister Brown stated that the relaxing of the cost of business on Sunday trading also recognizes the realities of a seven day week tourism industry.
“It is a changing world. We now have some employees who work 12 hours a day for three days and then have three days off. That still equates to a full weeks work but carried out over three days,” stated Minister Brown. “These are some of the transformations taking place, not just here in the Cook Islands, but all round the world.”
Discrimination
While government is relaxing the rate of pay on Sundays, government will continue to protect the rights of those that maintain Sunday as a day of rest of worship on religious grounds through the introduction of new anti-discrimination measures.
“It was important to government to recognize that there are other religious denominations in the Cook Islands where the Sabbath may not be observed on a Sunday and those workers should have a right to observe their Sabbath without discrimination.”
The new Bill will prohibit discrimination that would result in adverse action against a worker on the grounds of race, ethnic origin, skin colour or appearance, national origin, opinion and belief, religion, gender or sexual preference, disability, age, health status and pregnancy.
Termination
A major weakness in the current labour laws is the lack of protection for workers around termination. Unless a worker is protected under contract or company policy, there is limited protection to pursue a case of unfair dismissal under the Cook Islands Labour Ordinance 1964.
The Bill will tighten up the process that an employer must follow for termination. This provides that, in addition to providing a period of notice, grounds for termination must be connected to the capacity or conduct of a worker or due to a genuine restructure of a business.
Timing
The Bill is currently being reviewed for final drafting and is expected to be tabled in the December parliament sitting.
The Maternity provisions are expected to take effect from 1 January 2013 and funding has already been allocated in the 2012-2013 Budget.
All other provisions of the Bill are expected to take effect from 1 July 2013 to allow employers and workers to review and adjust to the new legislation.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs will be progressively releasing information relating to different parts of the Bill over the next few weeks.

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