
90-Day Trial Period NZ: The Rules Employers and Employees Need to Know
How 90-day trial periods work in New Zealand: who can use one, the writing and signing rules, and what happens to a personal grievance if you are dismissed during a trial.
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15 articles

How 90-day trial periods work in New Zealand: who can use one, the writing and signing rules, and what happens to a personal grievance if you are dismissed during a trial.

How annual leave works in New Zealand: 4 weeks after 12 months, how holiday pay is calculated, and the Holidays Act reform moving to hours-based accrual.

When a resignation counts as constructive dismissal under New Zealand employment law, the situations that qualify, and how it is raised as a personal grievance.

From 21 February 2026, a 5 criteria gateway test can make a worker a specified contractor who cannot later claim to be an employee. How the test works.

New Zealand's minimum wage is $23.95 an hour from 1 April 2026. The three wage types, who they apply to, and how to check if you are being paid correctly.

New Zealand employment law explained: the minimum wage, sick leave, personal grievances, the 90-day trial, dismissal, redundancy, and the 2026 reforms.

New Zealand has no statutory minimum notice period. What the employment agreement controls, what reasonable notice means when it is silent, and the serious misconduct exception.

What a personal grievance is under New Zealand employment law, the 90-day (12-month for sexual harassment) window to raise it, mediation, the ERA, and remedies.

New Zealand has 11 national public holidays plus a regional anniversary day. How time-and-a-half pay and the alternative holiday (day in lieu) work.

New Zealand has no statutory redundancy pay. Any compensation comes only from the employment agreement. The genuine redundancy test, fair process, and when redundancy becomes an unjustified dismissal.

A restraint of trade clause in a New Zealand employment agreement is enforceable only so far as it is reasonable. The test, what courts can do with an unreasonable restraint, and the status of reform.

New Zealand sick leave law explained: 10 days a year after 6 months, who it covers, carry-over up to 20 days, and the accrual change the Employment Leave Bill would bring.

Since 21 February 2026, employees earning $200,000 or more a year cannot raise an unjustified dismissal grievance. How the threshold, transition, and opt back in work.

What the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) does in New Zealand, why mediation usually comes first, how to lodge a claim, and how appeals to the Employment Court work.

How the fair and reasonable employer test for unjustified dismissal works in New Zealand, the new $200,000 threshold, and the remedies available if a grievance succeeds.