Employment
Workers' Rights Act 2019 with the Portable Retirement Gratuity Fund
The Workers' Rights Act 2019 replaced the Employment Rights Act 2008, introducing the Portable Retirement Gratuity Fund so that gratuity accrues centrally and follows the worker between employers. Dismissal requires justification and a hearing, and the Employment Relations Tribunal and Industrial Court adjudicate.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — The Ministry of Labour conciliates; the Employment Relations Tribunal and the Industrial Court determine.
- Deadline — Disciplinary hearing before dismissal; charge notified in writing
- Deadline — Unjustified termination claim: within 2 years to the Industrial Court
Governing law
- Workers' Rights Act 2019 — PRGF; termination
- Employment Relations Act 2008
- National Pensions Act 1976
In practice
The Portable Retirement Gratuity Fund is a genuine innovation: by making severance-style gratuity portable and pre-funded, it removed the incentive to dismiss workers before long-service entitlements matured, a problem the previous statute had not solved.