The Employment Relations (Protection for KiwiSaver Members) Amendment Bill (Bill) proposes to allow an employee to raise a personal grievance where their employment has been adversely impacted due to their participation in KiwiSaver (or a complying superannuation scheme).
Grounds for a personal grievance would include situations where an employee is not afforded the same terms, conditions of work, fringe benefits, or opportunities for training, promotion, and transfer as are made available for other employees of the same or substantially similar qualifications, experience, or skills employed in the same or substantially similar circumstances. This would include where an employee is not paid the same salary / wages as other employees due to their participation in KiwiSaver.
This Bill would close a loophole in current legislation which allows employers to take a 'total remuneration' approach regarding its employer contributions to KiwiSaver. Under the KiwiSaver scheme, employees can elect to contribute a percentage of their income to be automatically deducted in each pay cycle. Employees are incentivised to participate in the scheme as their employer is required to match their contribution by at least 3%. Current legislation allows this 3% employer contribution to be factored into an employee's remuneration such that employer contributions are still paid but are effectively self-funded by the employee.
The Bill is currently at its first reading stage and is a highly contentious political issue. There is no clear date as to when, or if, this will be passed into law, but if it does, it will unlikely be in 2023.
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