Month’s pay for no jab appals bar manager

A new law requiring businesses to pay out workers who refuse to get vaccinated has been described as ‘‘bloody disgraceful’’ and ‘‘incredibly unfair’’ by some in the hospitality sector.

Recently passed legislation requires employers to provide a minimum four-week paid notice period when staff have their employment agreements terminated for not being vaccinated against Covid-19, and their work requires vaccination.

A four-week notice period for a worker on minimum wage working 40 hours a week equates to nearly $3000 after tax. If a worker has a notice period longer than four weeks in their employment agreement, that still applies.

All staff working in businesses where vaccine passes are mandated, including hospitality, events, gatherings, close-contact businesses and gyms, needed to have their first vaccination by yesterday’s cutoff and their second injection by January 17.

Businesses can also implement their own vaccine mandates by carrying out a workplace risk assessment.

David Nunn, a manager at Little Jimmy, a bar and eatery in Epsom, Auckland, said he’d had to let go of one staff member who did not want to be vaccinated and had to be paid for the four weeks.

He did not think it was fair that businesses should have to cover the cost, especially considering the hospitality industry had been shut down for three months. ‘‘I think it’s bloody disgraceful.’’

He said businesses would not only have to pay unvaccinated staff for four weeks of no work, but they also needed to pay wages for replacement staff.

Staff who chose not to get vaccinated had made a decision to quit, he said. ‘‘No-one has been fired – you’ve made the decision to quit. So I don’t think there should be a huge amount of entitlement there.’’

Restaurant Association chief executive Marisa Bidois said the move to the traffic light system had been incredibly challenging.

The industry continued to face a labour shortage, so to lose staff was challenging for businesses.

‘‘To be expected to pick up the bill after months of restricted or in many cases no trading is incredibly unfair.’’

Information from the Government had not been forthcoming, which left businesses in many cases opening their doors without a clear understanding of the details of the requirements.

It only recently became clear that business owners who were choosing to not use vaccination passes needed to have a fully vaccinated workforce, she said.

‘‘We do not dispute that these employees also deserve notice, but it is still money that businesses are being forced to pay with little to no revenue coming in, in many cases, over the last 110 days.’’

Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Wood said the minimum of four weeks’ paid notice must occur before a worker’s employment could be terminated for being unvaccinated.

‘‘Given that the consequence for the employee is loss of employment, we think this is a reasonable balance to strike,’’ he said.

‘‘Our experience in areas where this process has applied is that in the final weeks, a reasonable proportion of employees will decide to get vaccinated, which keeps the person in employment, and saves the cost and disruption of the employer having to recruit.’’

A Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment spokeswoman said the four-week notice period provided a ‘‘clear and consistent approach’’ for employment agreements that were terminated because a worker was unvaccinated. ‘‘Without this clarity, employers may have incurred additional expenses applying existing employment law to new circumstances around vaccination.’’

During the notice period, staff should be paid according to their employment agreements, she said.

The Government had provided financial support for businesses during the Covid-19 response including the wage subsidy scheme, the resurgence support payment, short-term absence payments, and the small-business cashflow loan scheme, she said.