Compliance orders
A new enforcement mechanism is now available under the Act, but only for enforcing the employee participation provisions.
This mechanism is the compliance order jurisdiction, previously only available under the Employment Relations Act 2000.
It is a procedure by which the Employment Relations Authority can decide to order someone to comply with the requirements of the employee participation provisions of the Act.
A compliance order is not punitive in itself - it simply requires someone to do what they should have been doing to comply with the law anyway! But if the person ordered to comply still fails to do so then they may become subject to certain penalties set out in the Employment Relations Act 2000.
Before the Authority will involve itself in considering an application for a compliance order, however, it will usually want to have the parties get together with a mediator to see if the issues can't be resolved by agreement. As with most areas where disagreements arise, often the best way to resolve them is open face to face dialogue which ensures that each party understands the other's position.