In this month’s issue, we’ll take a look at changes to sick leave entitlements and essential skills work visas, plus some Marbles news! If you have enjoyed working with us in the past and have a minute to write us a review, that would be so appreciated! See the link at the bottom of the page.
Reminder about the changes to Sick Leave entitlements
From 24 July 2021, the sick leave entitlement increased from 5 days of sick leave per year, to 10 days per year.
Employees will get the extra five days when they reach their next entitlement date – either after reaching 6 months’ employment or on their sick leave entitlement anniversary (12 months after they were last entitled to sick leave). Employees who already get 10 or more sick days a year will not be affected by this change. The maximum amount of unused sick leave that an employee is entitled to will remain 20 days.
Now is a good time to communicate the changes to your staff as well as update your employment agreements and policies. If you require help with this please reach out to us at any time.
‘Objectivity,
Empathy,
Integrity.
This is how we partner with our clients’
Essential Skills Work Visa changes
According to immigration.govt.nz; From 19 July, changes are being made to Essential Skills visas to streamline application processing and increase visa duration. This includes:
- Increasing the maximum duration of an Essential Skills visa for jobs paid below the median wage from 12 to 24 months
- Removing the requirement to provide medical and police certificates if these have already been provided to Immigration New Zealand, even if they were provided more than 36 months ago
If the applicant is remaining in their current full time employment and not changing their role, employer or location of work
- the employer will no longer need to meet labour market test and
- applicants and employers will be able to make declarations in place of providing evidence that the requirements are met
To be eligible for the removal of the labour market test and new evidence requirements, you must also hold one of the following visas:
- Any work visa (including a Working Holiday Visa)
- A student visa to study Masters or PhD
- A Critical Purpose visitor visa granted as a critical health worker, or granted for more than six months as an ‘other critical worker’.
Until 29 August 2021, you will need to use the paper based form. This can be accessed via the Immigration NZ website
From 30 August 2021 you will be able to apply online.
If you require help in developing or adding to your policies with relation to work visas please feel free to reach out to us.
Nominate us!
Marbles has the opportunity to be nominated for the Nor-West Country Business Awards for 2021. If you’ve had a great experience from a service that we’ve provided you, we would really be super appreciative of your nomination.
Click here to put in a nomination for us!
Have you got new roles to advertise?! Have you checked out the ‘Job Hub’ on our webpage? This is a great way to get your vacancies promoted and is included in our recruitment process when you are advertising through us!
Check it out here: https://marbles.org.nz/job-hub/
Have you worked with Marbles in the past?
We hope we were able to provide you with everything you needed (and some)! Reviews help us to build an online presence and helps others learn about the team, the services we provide and how we might be able to help them, like we helped you.
Would you be willing to take a few minutes to leave us a review? You can click this link to leave us a review. Thank you in advance for taking time to share your experience with us.
From the Team at Marbles