Transplanting Good Faith into New Zealand Labour Law: The Experience under the Employment Relations Act 2000
AbstractOne of the major innovations in N ew Zealand’s Employment Relations Act 2000 is the introduction of a statutory obligation on good faith that applies to all parties to an employment relationship. This obligation has both a general dimension and one that is specific to collective bargaining. The general obligation applies to all employment relationships, whether individual or collective, and imposes a general and unspecified obligation on the parties to act in good faith towards each other in relation to a wide range of employment related matters. The more specific obligation applies to conduct during collective bargaining and is intended to provide behavioural parameters to achieve the Acts stated objective of promoting collective bargaining. This paper looks at the two dimensions of good faith in New Zealand labour law and in particular focusses on how the courts have applied the good faith obligation in practice since the introduction of the Act. |