Partner

Jim Roberts

LLM (Hons) (1st Class) / LLB / BCom
Profile
Jim Roberts heads up the Employment Law Team.

Jim has a wealth of specialist experience, having been practising employment law for more than 30 years.  He helps his clients, who are from a range of industries, develop their employment strategies around common employment processes, assists with compliance work to minimise his clients’ exposure to risk, with a particular focus on Holidays Act issues, and regularly advises on issues arising from mergers and acquisitions.

Jim is a highly skilled and experienced advocate and has a wealth of experience in mediation, the Employment Relations Authority, Employment Court and appellate Courts.  Over his career, Jim has acted on a number of leading cases.  A particular recent highlight is a Court of Appeal benchmark case on the application of short-term incentive payments under the Holidays Act.  A career highlight was appearing in the Privy Council regarding employment jurisdiction, which is the only employment case from New Zealand to ever be heard in the Privy Council.

As well as providing strategic legal advice, Jim is often involved in union disputes and collective agreement issues and is currently advising on one of the first fair pay agreement negotiations.  He enjoys getting to know his clients’ businesses and understanding the people behind the issues.

 

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Experience

Examples of work completed by Jim include:

  • Advising a publicly listed company on the managed exit of its CEO.
  • Representing an employer in relation to the workplace death of an employee.
  • Leading a mediation involving a dispute encompassing shareholding, directors and employment of the managing director.
  • Assisting an employer to commission an investigation into a senior employee alleged to have committed fraud and managing the subsequent disciplinary process.
  • Working with a large multinational employer to restructure New Zealand operations, including the redundancy of a large number of employees.
Publications

Insights & Opinion / Jim Roberts

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Health and safety learnings for landowners following latest Whakaari decision
The leasing and subleasing of land, buildings and infrastructure is commonplace in New Zealand business and commerce, but what happens when something goes wrong? Do landowners have health and safety o...
08.05.2025 Posted in Health & Safety
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Amendment to the Crimes Act 1961: Intentionally not paying employees their wages now deemed theft
An amendment to the Crimes Act 1961 (Crimes Act) – the Crimes (Theft by Employer) Amendment Bill has been passed by Parliament and received Royal assent. It is now an enforceable provision of th...
14.03.2025 Posted in Employment
Health and Safety obligations for officers – Maritime NZ v Tony Gibson
At 146 pages, and 504 paragraphs, the recent Maritime NZ v Tony Gibson judgment is certainly not short on detail.[1] This is unsurprising given the complex factual matrix and landmark nature of this c...
17.12.2024 Posted in Employment & Health & Safety
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Checking it Twice – Health and Safety Considerations for the End of Year Work Function
As the year draws to a close both employees and employers alike are looking forward to the end of the year, and some well-deserved rest and relaxation. Many are also looking to celebrate the year that...
22.11.2024 Posted in Employment & Health & Safety
Plan fail results in health and safety conviction
Deliver the health and safety work you promise, or there may be legal consequences – as a health and safety consultancy recently learnt! Earlier this year, WorkSafe prosecuted Safe Business Solution...
25.10.2024 Posted in Employment & Health & Safety
Commercially sensitive information? Prove it
The Court of Appeal has refused to grant leave to Birthing Centre Limited (BCL) in respect of its appeal from the Employment Court. The Employment Court and the Employment Relations Authority (Authori...
02.09.2024 Posted in Employment
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Your Uber Driver has arrived – and is an employee!
There has been ongoing legal debate as to whether Uber drivers are employees or contractors, and the Court of Appeal may have had the last word, finding today that four Uber drivers were, at law, empl...
26.08.2024 Posted in Employment
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