Waikato Business News December 2016/January 2017

More documents

Recommendations

Info

16 WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS December 2016/January 2017 URBAN HOMES Urban Homes builds on another successful year From page 15 product, but is professional, friendly, generous and fun. I can honestly say we deliver on all fronts.” Urban Homes prides themselves on delivering the very highest level of communication. They make a point of determining exactly what each client’s expectations are very early on in the sales process. Their extensive design brief process has been designed to enable them to understand what is important to each individual before they get started. This is underwritten by Urban Homes’ strong emphasis on listening to their customers. Developing an open line of communication as early as possible helps them build a level of trust with their customers and enables them to feel more comfortable to provide them with honest feedback on design. This, in turn, helps Urban Homes to deliver a home design that meets the customer’s brief. Proud to support Urban Homes www.hostess.co.nz 40127 Brent Tupaea Director Laser Plumbing Hamilton East Phone 07 858 4921 hamilton.east@laserplumbing.co.nz www.laserplumbing.co.nz Proudly associated with Urban Homes C3992H Congratulations to Urban Homes on your recent award. NEED A BIN? WE’RE ON THE WAY! We We have have Waikato Waikato covered. covered. * ** Casual Casual & permanent permanent bins bins available. available. *For collection zoning, boundaries please visit our website. *For collection zoning, boundaries please visit our website. ORDER ORDER ONLINE ONLINE wastemanagement.co.nz wastemanagement.co.nz OR OR CALL CALL 0800 0800 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 30492
WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS December 2016/January 2017 17 Discretionary bonuses and annual leave For some lucky employees, the festive season means not only summer holidays but the prospect of a Christmas bonus as well. While holidays are much anticipated by the average employee, they can cause quite a headache for payroll, particularly when calculating annual leave. One of the most confusing issues that arises is whether bonuses should be included in gross earnings when calculating holiday pay based on average weekly earnings over the past 12 months. The answer largely depends on whether the bonus is discretionary. Under the Holidays Act 2003 discretionary payments are excluded from gross earnings for the purposes of calculating holiday pay. The problem is, the Act does not contain a definition of ‘discretionary payments’, Response to Founders Theatre crisis recognised H3 scooped two top accolades in the 2016 Entertainment Venues Association of New Zealand (EVANZ) Awards at Claudelands Arena on December 6. The group received the iTicket Excellence in Innovation Award for the smart thinking, effort and care taken to relocate Founders Theatre events to other venues, predominately Claudelands, following the theatre’s closure in March. As well as managing scheduling, communication and client relationships, the H3 team also came up with creative solutions to present the theatre events in the alterative venues in ways that best replicated the surroundings and acoustics of a traditional theatre. H3 technical services manager Sven Ladewig was also named as the Simpson Grierson Operations Manager of the Year. The award recognised Sven’s depth of expertise and experience, attitude to the role and approach to building and nurturing his specialist team, as well as the pivotal role he played in achieving the production requirements of relocated Founders Theatre events in alternative venues. H3 executive director Sean Murray says the awards are great recognition for the team. “The EVANZ Awards are always hotly contested so to receive these two top awards from our industry peers is an outstanding achievement for H3. “The relocation of Founders Theatre events earlier this year was a challenging time but I am immensely proud of the way our team approached this with a great deal of care, consideration and smart thinking to achieve the best results possible for our clients and event-goers,” says Mr Murray. “The role that Sven played in the relocation of Founders Theatre events, and his level of skill and professionalism in general, is exceptional, so for him to be named Operations Manager of the Year reinforces what we already knew – that he really is an outstanding leader in the industry.” H3 was also shortlisted in two other 2016 EVANZ Award categories – Chad Hooker (director of operations and major events) was a finalist for Ticketek Venue Executive of the Year, while Dawn Stewart (business development executive) was a finalist for the Priava Rising Star Award. The annual EVANZ Awards recognise talent and dedication within the country’s events, entertainment and venue industries. This is the second year in a row that H3 has been awarded the EVANZ Excellence in Innovation Award, after receiving it last year for its ‘Business Systems and Processes Transformation Project’. In 2014 Claudelands was named EVANZ’s Large Venue of the Year and Supreme Venue of the Year. H3 is a unit of Hamilton City Council responsible for overseeing the management of Claudelands, FMG Stadium Waikato, Seddon Park, Founders Theatre and The Grandstand. and employers may find that the definition of ‘discretionary’ is considerably different from what they understand the term to mean in everyday English. In general, employers must look to cases in the Employment Relations Authority and the Employment Court to understand the rules around categorising a bonus as discretionary. The important factor to consider when deciding whether a bonus is discretionary or not is to ascertain if the bonus forms part of the terms and conditions of employment or whether it is merely a payment that an employer makes where no obligation exists to pay it. An example of the latter would be where an employer spontaneously decides to give an employee a one-off reward for landing a big client or for coming in under budget on a project. Where an employee receives a bonus, which is included as part of their remuneration package or one that is tied to a performance target, it is unlikely to be deemed a discretionary bonus even if the amount of the bonus varies from year to year and this variation in amount is said to be decided at the sole discretion of the employer. In such cases, payment of the bonus itself is not discretionary, as the discretion merely attaches to the amount to be paid rather than whether or not it will be paid. In a 2014 Employment Court case, Howell v MSG Investments Limited, Mr Howell was to receive an incentive bonus on the conclusion of his employment, the value of which would be calculated 30 days following termination. In this case, the EMPLOYMENT LAW > BY ERIN BURKE Employment lawyer and director at Practica Legal Email: erin@practicalegal.co.nz phone: 027 459 3375 bonus was not discretionary and amounted to $3.2 million. As it was calculated and paid after termination, the employer claimed it should not be included in the calculation for annual leave, usually paid in an employee’s final pay. The Court did not accept the employer’s position and held that the bonus formed part of the terms and conditions of employment, regardless of when it was calculated and when it was paid. At 8 percent, this amounted to a whopping $256,000 that the employer was ordered to pay in holiday pay. Another factor to consider is that discretion needs to be exercised in a fair and reasonable manner, not arbitrarily. In a 2015 Authority decision, Walker v Vulcan Steel Limited, the employer used a range of criteria to decide whether each employee received an annual profit share bonus. The criteria included attendance/time keeping, work productivity, attitude, customer service and being health and safety conscious. Mr Walker was denied his annual bonus due to alleged failings during the year of some of the criteria. However, the employer failed to inform Mr Walker that his ongoing conduct would result in the loss of his bonus and therefore, denied him the opportunity to improve. The Authority held that this caused Mr Walker to be unjustifiably disadvantaged and Vulcan Steel was ordered to pay Mr Walker a $3000 bonus, which was approximately 75 percent of the full bonus. Unlike the 90-day time limit for raising personal grievances, claims for underpayment of annual leave under the Holidays Act can be raised going back six years so any miscalculation could prove costly. It is highly recommended that employers check their employees’ employment agreements in relation to bonuses before calculating holiday pay, ascertain whether or not a bonus is a discretionary payment and seek legal advice if further clarity is needed. Practica Legal would like to wish Waikato Business News readers a happy and safe holiday season. H3’s response to moving events away from Founders Theatre following its closure has seen it receive an award. Tatua appoints new CEO The Tatua Co-operative Dairy Company Ltd has announced the appointment of Brendhan Greaney to the position of Tatua chief executive officer. Chairman Stephen Allen announced Mr Greaney’s appointment at Tatua’s AGM on December 8. “Brendhan Greaney’s appointment is with immediate effect with the simultaneous retirement of previous and highly respected chief executive officer, Paul McGilvary.” Mr Greaney is an experienced senior executive with extensive dairy industry experience. He steps up from his current position of general manager operations with Tatua which he has held for six and a half years. Brendhan’s previous career was with Fonterra where he held various roles, including regional operations and regional business roles. He brings deep manufacturing and operations leadership experience within the dairy industry across a range of product areas. Brendhan will be Tatua’s ninth CEO, or equivalent leader, in its 102 year history. “Tatua is a family-orientated New Zealand company with roots in the local community, yet with global opportunities,” said Mr Allen. “A seamless transition of leadership will provide confidence and stability for our customers, our staff and our shareholder families”.
Page 1 and 2: DECEMBER 2016/JANUARY 2017 VOLUME 2
Page 3 and 4: WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS December 2016
Page 7 and 8: MONTHLY POLL VOTE AND WIN Sponsored
Page 9 and 10: IT BUSINESS SOLUTIONS WAIKATO BUSIN
Page 11 and 12: IT BUSINESS SOLUTIONS WAIKATO BUSIN
Page 15: URBAN HOMES WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS D
Page 19 and 20: MITRE 10 MEGA RUAKURA 19 NEW Mitre
Page 25 and 26: The blurred line between employee a
Page 27 and 28: JOHN S MACDONALD BUILDERS LTD WAIKA
Page 29 and 30: JOHN S MACDONALD BUILDERS LTD WAIKA
Page 31 and 32: BEST IN BUSINESS WAIKATO BUSINESS N
Page 35 and 36: SMA BIG 0:56 p.m. SIZE 26.2X18 FAX

Waikato Business News December 2016/January 2017

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?