An employee is a person who has agreed to be employed to work for some form of payment under a contract of service. Under Individualised Funding, an employee is engaged by the person receiving disability funding, or their nominated agent, to provide them with support. Manawanui does not employ support workers on behalf of customers.
Click here for a Basic Guide to Recruitment
If you have any concerns or questions about your wages, then you should speak to your employer. They can contact us for any additional information they need to address your concerns.
Manawanui is not your employer, and so we can’t provide you with advice.
An employee is a person employed to do any work for hire or reward under a contract of services, commonly called an employment agreement.
The hire or reward is usually a wage or salary. Employees have minimum employment rights under employment laws, such as:
• Paid at least the minimum wage
• Have holiday and leave entitlements
• Have a written employment agreement
• The right to take a personal grievance Self-employed people, also called contractors or independent contractors are engaged by a principal (the other party) to perform services under a contract for services, commonly called an independent contractor agreement (IEA).
Contractors invoice the principal for their services, pay their own tax (unless they are receiving schedular payments) and ACC levies. Many employment laws do not apply to contractors. This means they don’t get things like annual leave or sick leave, and they can’t bring personal grievances.
Click here for an information sheet you can read or download and print
Click here for a Contractor Agreement Form
Clickhere for a Schedular Contractor Agreement Form
These are the most common type of employee. Permanent employees have the full set of employment rights and responsibilities. Employees have to meet certain criteria to qualify for some employment entitlements, such as parental leave, parental leave payments, annual holidays, sick leave and bereavement leave. There may be small differences between full time or part time employees due to their work patterns.
A fixed-term (temporary) employee’s employment will end on a specified date or when a particular event occurs. A fixed-term employee might be someone who is brought in to replace another employee on parental leave, to cover a seasonal peak or to complete a project. There must be a genuine reason based on reasonable grounds for the fixed term. You must explain this reason to the employee.
Whether you are considered to be part-time or full-time depends on how many hours you have to work.
Employment legislation does not define what full-time or part-time work is, but full-time work is often considered to be around 35 to 40 hours a week.
You have the same employment rights and responsibilities if you are a part-time or full-time employee. A full-time permanent employee might be someone working 9am to 5pm, five days a week. An example of a part-time permanent employee is someone who regularly works the same three days a week for eight hours each day, for a total of 24 hours a week.
Employment legislation does not define ‘Casual employee’. However, the term often refers to a situation where the employee has no guaranteed hours of work, no regular pattern of work, and no ongoing expectation of employment.
The employer does not have to offer work to the employee, and the employee does not have to accept work when offered. The employee works as and when it suits both them and the employer. This can sometimes happen because it’s hard for the employer to predict when they will need someone to work, or when they need the work done quickly.
Each time the employee accepts an offer of work it is treated as a new period of employment.
Employment rights and responsibilities also apply to casual employees, but the way annual holidays, sick and bereavement leave are applied can vary for these employees.
You agree the rate you are going to pay your support workers with them. However, there is an expectation that hourly rates are reasonable and reflect the employee's work. As of 1st April 2024 the legal adult Minimum wage is $23.15 p/hr, regardless of the pay equity information below this is the minimum you must pay someone who is 16 years and older.
For example, if you are engaging a registered nurse to provide advanced care, you would expect to pay that person about the same rates as other nurses, which is more than you would typically pay to a person performing housekeeping duties.
There are specific minimum pay rates for employees in the disability sector based on the Pay Equity Settlement Act. These rates are based on your employees’ qualifications such as the NZ Certificates in Health & Wellbeing or other equivalent qualifications. A list of equivalent qualifications can be found on the Careerforce website. As of 1 July 2022, there are now separate rates that can apply if you have employed your support staff since before 1st July 2017.
Qualification based hourly rates
If your support worker has a formal NZQA or Careerforce qualification at one of these levels, they must be paid the following minimum hourly rates from 1st July 2022.
Qualification Hourly rate
Level 0 (no qualifications) $22.49
Level 2 qualifications $24.06
Level 3 qualifications $26.16
Level 4 qualifications $28.25
Length of service based hourly rates
If your support worker has been employed by you prior to 1st July 2017, then their length of service also contributes to the minimum hourly rate that you must pay them. If they have been employed by you after 1st July 2017 then the minimum rate of service of $22.49 applies regardless of their length of service.
Length of Service Hourly rate
Less than 3 years' service $22.49
More than 3 years' service $24.06
More the 8 years' service $26.16
12+ years' service w/ clause 2 $27.20
12+ years' service no clause 2 $28.25
An employer must take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure that a support worker is able to attain qualifications. You can use your IF to pay for this training if you have sufficient funds.
You may also be eligible for a Training Grant from Te Pou that will cover a portion of the training costs. Manawanui can help you with any grant applications and has assessors.
Contact our Learning & Training team for more information by emailing learning@manawanui.org.nz
The Care and Support Workers (Pay Equity) Settlement Act 2017 came into effect on July 1, 2017. It set minimum pay rates for eligible workers based on their qualifications. These rates increased each year for three years, with the final increase coming into effect in July 2021.
Please refer to ‘How much should I pay my employee’ for those details.
You can update their details in the Customer Portal. If you are not using the Portal, you will need to send us an Employee Resignation form.
If necessary, you will need to submit any outstanding time sheets and leave forms to the Payroll Team. Your employee will receive a final pay that includes any leave owing.
Click here to access an Employee Resignation - Termination form
Manwanui has many useful documents related to employing support workers. Click on the links below to access them, or contact our Customer Experience Centre if you cannot see the forms you need to download.
Basic Recruitment Guide
Support Worker Privacy Declaration
Employee Information Form
Change Employee Details Form
Employee or Contractor? Information sheet
No, all Vaccine mandates have been removed as of 12th September 2022. If you wish to read the full information from Whaikaha, Ministry of Disabled People, you can do so here. https://whaikaha.govt.nz/about-us/news/revocation-of-health-and-disability-vaccination-mandate/
If your staff provide you with transport support using their own vehicle, you can reimburse them using a mileage rate for the length of the trip. In your employees timesheet, you need to add in an expense line for each return trip. In the particulars make sure the Location, Destination and Distance is clearly stated. We recommend keeping a log book for all employee trips.
In certain situations where your staff need to travel a long distance to and from their place of work, you can come to an arrangement with your employee about how you recognise the travel they do just to do their job. You can offer a slightly higher hourly rate to account for the travel costs, or you can include a travel allowance as part of their fortnightly timesheet that can help discount the cost of travel. It's important to remember as the employer, it is your decision to make and you must ensure that it does not impact your overall funding allocation.
The best protection as an employer is to understand your obligations as an employer in regards to maintaining a safe and healthy work environment.
But if you employ people, for peace of mind you may want to consider insurance for protection in the event of employment disputes involving personal grievance actions and civil actions relating to injuries or illness. Manawanui makes this easy with an option for an affordable insurance package which can be purchased using your Individualised Funding.
Learn more about how EPP can help you by watching the video below. Click the link to be taken to our Youtube channel! Watch Insurance Information Video
One of our standard benefits, for all Manawanui customers is FREE membership of Employers & Manufacturer's Association. This gives you free access to the professional resources of the EMA, including advisers on employment relations and more. Business Support & Employer Advocay | EMA
