Latest Articles
Friday, 3 September, 2010 | Employment
In a recent case an employer was convicted and fined after an employee was injured at work. The Court held that the accident was preventable but that proper training had not been carried out and hazards had not been identified in the work place. The fine was $43,000 and reparation $17,500. The employer could have avoided the accident, prosecution and/or penalties if it had put in place a system to… Continue reading
Friday, 27 August, 2010 | Employment, General
In two recent cases employees have been dismissed after posting abusive comments on Facebook but in both cases the employer got the process wrong resulting in payouts and costs.
Recently a person was fired from their job for writing abusive comments about a co-worker on Facebook. The Employer thought this was good reason to investigate and as a result of the investigation decided to fire the employee. However, the… Continue reading
Thursday, 5 August, 2010 | Family, Trusts
If you are married, in a civil union, or in a de facto relationship then relationship property law may affect any interest you or your partner have in a trust and how any distributions made to you or your partner from the trust will be treated in terms of who is entitled to what.
You have no interest in a trust unless you are a beneficiary of the trust or the trustees have given you… Continue reading
Tuesday, 27 July, 2010 | Employment
It came to light recently that many employers do not know the rules when employing interns. It seems many were exploiting young interns who were keen to get on the job training and experience, especially in industries like advertising. Some interns were working for up to a year without pay or any prospect of permanent paid employment in the future. Understandably many felt like they were being treated unfairly… Continue reading
Tuesday, 13 July, 2010 | Employment
A recent complaint to the Privacy Commissioner has upheld the right of a former employee to be told the content of a verbal reference given by her former employer.
The employee had given permission for the former employer to give a reference but when she missed out on the job sought to know what had been said.
The employer initially refused but following a ruling by the Privacy… Continue reading
Tuesday, 13 July, 2010 | Maori Issues
The Government has announced that new legislation in relation to the foreshore and seabed will be introduced in August 2010.
Crown-ownership of the foreshore and seabed will be removed and replaced with a “non-ownership model”.
Customary Interests
The legislation will recognise three types of customary interests:
- Universal recognition/mana tuku iho;
- Customary rights; and
- Customary title.
Mana Tuku Iho
Mana tuku iho… Continue reading
Monday, 5 July, 2010 | Business, Company, Intellectual Property
Soccer fever has hit New Zealand largely due to the success of our national team making the cut for the World Cup held in South Africa last month. Cup fever hit South Africa also, and in the lead-up it inspired many South African businesses to try to get a slice of the action. However, as we saw in media coverage of the lead-up, many were shut-out of the lucrative market… Continue reading
Monday, 5 July, 2010 | Business, Company, Copyright, Intellectual Property
Does your business have a catchy name and/or clearly identifiable logo? If you haven’t registered it as a trademark, this could happen to you …
Bill started a very successful retail business and as a result of a quality product, memorable logo and significant exposure in the market, people very quickly learned about Bill’s business and recognised his logo when they saw it.
Shortly after starting his business… Continue reading
Monday, 5 July, 2010 | Business, Company, Intellectual Property
Social networking sites have become increasingly popular and the range of material that is posted on these sites continues to grow. From photos, to videos, to blogs – there’s not a lot that people don’t post on their personal pages. But who actually owns this material? It’s not as straightforward as you might think …
A recent example in the media of a photographic image [seemingly] being misappropriated from… Continue reading
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