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Forum MERAS Bernard McIlhone General Manager – MERAS Trial periods Over the last six years of the current government there has been a number of changes to employment legislation. From a perspective of their impact on MERAS members who are employed predominantly by DHBs, the immediate effect has been limited. The level of health sector funding continues to be the greatest factor impacting on midwives. Despite this, these changes are starting to have an effect with smaller, non-DHB employers of midwives. Recently a midwife of considerable experience took on a role with one such small midwifery employer. The names of both have been withheld for privacy reasons. She contacted me during the period between Christmas and New Year to say that she was a member of MERAS and had been dismissed by her employer with no justifiable reason, no adequate discussion and nothing in writing. On the face of it, this type of treatment of a midwife shouldn’t happen and if the employer was a DHB it would certainly not be happening. The complication soon emerged. The midwife concerned had been employed for less than 90 days. Back in 2010 the government changed the Employment Relations Act in respect to the 90-day rule to make it easier for employers to dismiss employees without recrimination. What the act says is that an employment agreement may contain provision for a trial period of 90 days or less. A trial provision means a written provision in an employment agreement that states for a specified period (not exceeding 90 days), starting at the beginning of the employee's employment, the employee is to serve a trial period; and during that period the employer may dismiss the employee; and if the employer does so, the employee is not entitled to bring a personal grievance or other legal proceedings in respect of the dismissal. When an employee is dismissed under a trial period, there is no fair process and no requirement for the employer to provide Visit us online at www.midwife.org.nz justifiable substantive reasoning; however, some limited grounds for challenging these decisions have emerged as a result of a variety of cases that have gone through the courts: • The appropriate trial period clause must be in the employment agreement. • The employment agreement must be signed before the employee commences work. • Dismissal must be on notice. Employers are still required to act in good faith during a trial period but are exempt from having to provide written reasons for the dismissal. After reviewing the information provided by the midwife it was clear that, according to the law, this midwife’s dismissal could not be challenged. The employer had complied with the law as described above, although the midwife was dismissed without having the opportunity to know the reasons why and defend herself. From a union perspective I fail to see where the good faith was in the employer’s actions and it was certainly not fair. The reality is that nothing can be done in respect to this midwife’s treatment. The law enacted by the government prevents this from occurring. Therefore, all midwives who are moving to employment outside of a DHB need to carefully read and consider their employment agreement before committing to a new employer. New benefits for members Coming soon are new MERAS memberonly benefits. MERAS members will soon have access to a great range of lifestyle benefits through our new partnership with Member Advantage. Benefits will include savings on a host of products, such as accommodation, leisure activities, adventure tours, airline lounge memberships, international money transfers, car rental and computers. Member Advantage offers member and employee benefit programmes across Australia and New Zealand. It currently provides exclusive benefits in partnership with leading suppliers to over 500,000 people. Member Advantage’s large client base means we can access competitive and exclusive deals on behalf of MERAS members. A number of New Zealand unions have also partnered with Member Advantage, which will ensure that we will have access to increasing benefit and services within New Zealand. Full details will be provided in the next Midwifery News. Former MERAS chairperson retires Mary Whitham, a former MERAS chairperson, has recently retired as an employed midwife at Southern DHB. Mary has been a consistent advocate for midwives. As Karen Guilliland states, “Mary was a midwifery role model for supportive change for many years. She has supported the College and the profession, as well as individual midwives that she has worked with to promote the principles of equity and fairness that she holds dear”. Mary was a founder College member, a chairperson of the Otago region and a long-standing midwifery standards Mary Whitham reviewer, and has been at the forefront of the development of MERAS in her roles as a workplace representative, a member of the union’s National Representative Council, its chairperson and a negotiator for the MERAS MECA. Mary was one of the original 50 members that signed on as a MERAS member following the 2003 NZCOM conference in Dunedin, even before the union had been officially established. She has been a valued friend and has provided unwavering support and guidance to all members of the MERAS National Representative Council. We wish Mary all the best in her retirement. For MERAS Membership e-mail [email protected] or call 03 372 9738 Midwifery News March 2015 17