Unions are releasing more cases of what they say were unfair dismissals as Parliament prepares to debate a bill that will extend the 90-day probation period to all businesses.
Labour Minister Kate Wilkinson yesterday introduced bills to extend the period and change the Holidays Act so that workers will be able to exchange their fourth week of leave for cash if they want to.
The 90-day law currently covers businesses with 19 or fewer employees. Unions say that when it covers all businesses it will affect 400,000 workers - the number who start work or change jobs each year.
New employees can be sacked during the period without the right to claim unfair dismissal.
"This amounts to a huge attack on the job security of all wage and salary earners," Council of Trade Unions (CTU) president Helen Kelly said last night.
"The Government rushed the 90-day provision for small enterprises in under urgency just before Christmas in 2008 and there was no opportunity for public debate - this time we are determined that there is widespread public discussion."
The CTU last week started its "name and shame" campaign, identifying businesses it said had unfairly dismissed workers under the 90-day law, and Ms Kelly said more cases would be released today.
Ms Wilkinson, meanwhile, is using one of the bills to protect workers against losing their Christmas and New Year public holidays.
She put in a late amendment to the bill that changes the Holidays Act after the Employment Court recently ruled that when a firm routinely shut over Christmas and New Year, employees were not legally entitled to the public holidays that fell within that time and had to use annual leave to cover those days instead.
"The Christmas and New Year holidays are an established feature of the New Zealand summer," Ms Wilkinson said.
"The laws will be amended to ensure working Kiwis remain entitled to those days off, as they have been in the past."
NZPA