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Fixed Term Letters of Offer and Notices

Fixed Term Letters of Offer and Notices

Employment Law in New Zealand generally requires employers and employees to treat the employment relationship as a permanent one.

Use the following letters with caution. You should read the fixed term employment agreements article first if you have not done so already. If in doubt, contact our Advisory and Support Centre.

The law regarding fixed-term employment agreements (FTEA) is strict, and courts have often ruled in favour of employees who claim to be permanent employees despite being employed on an FTEA.

What information should you include in the letter of offer?

The genuine reason for the FTEA and when the FTEA ends must be set out in writing in the employee's letter of offer (LoO).

Both must be explained clearly, in detail, and specific to the employment situation of the fixed-term appointment.

It is important, however, that when using FTEAs to cover leave, you do not disclose private information about the employee in the FTEA's explanation.

Saying that they are taking "extended leave" will suffice.

The exception to the above rule is parental leave.

Section 48 of the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987open_in_new requires that fixed term employees who are covering parental leave to be advised of this due to the statutory right for the employee they are covering work to return early.

Our template LoO letters contain the appropriate wording for this and can be found below.

When should you give notice of the end of a fixed term employment agreement?

Fixed term employees must never work beyond the end date of their FTEA unless there is a legally compliant extension signed prior to the end of their original FTEA. More information on extensions can be found in the fixed term employment agreements article.

Therefore, you should let the employee know, in writing, that their employment is due to end. This is done in advance.

You should give the amount of notice that is specified in the employee’s fixed term letter of offer under the notice period section of the scheduled end of their fixed term.

You can download and use our letter for giving this notice templates:

Employees who are not members of a union

Some additional steps are involved when offering employment to someone who is not a member of a union or will be doing work not covered by a CA.

This is explained in our article on offering employment in a unionised environment.

Templates, resources, and references

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Notices

Please note the letters are listed in groups in this order:

  1. Teachers

  2. Support Staff

  3. Kaiārahi i te Reo

  4. Caretakers, Cleaners and Canteen Staff

  5. Community Education

  6. Therapists

  7. Residential Specialist School staff (non-teaching)

  8. Principals

  9. Those whose work does not fall within the coverage of a CA.

Teachers

Full-time FTEA

Part-time FTEA

Support Staff

For the purposes of the Support Staff in Schools’ Collective Agreement, a full-time employee is one who works 40 hours per week and is not term-time only (see clause 2.3.3open_in_new). All other employees should be employed using the applicable part-time letter.

Full-time FTEA

Part-time FTEA

Kaiārahi i te Reo

For the purposes of the Kaiārahi i te Reo and Therapists’ Collective Agreement, a full-time employee is one who works 40 hours per week, 52 weeks of the year. All other employees should be employed using the part-time letter.

Full-time FTEA

Part-time FTEA

Caretakers, Cleaners and Canteen Staff

Full-time FTEA

Part-time FTEA

Community Education

Full-time FTEA

Part-time FTEA

Therapists

Please read the open_in_newarticles on appointing an Occupational Therapist or a Physiotherapistopen_in_new or appointing a Music or Speech Language Therapistsopen_in_new before using these letters:

Full-time FTEA

Part-time FTEA

Residential Specialist School staff (non-teaching)

Full-time FTEA

Part-time FTEA

Principals

Acting up (internal appointments)

External appointments

Those whose work does not fall within the coverage of a CA

Full-time FTEA

Part-time FTEA

Employment Relations Act 2000
Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987