Partner

Alison Maelzer

LLB / BA
Profile
Alison Maelzer is a Partner in the Employment Law Team.

Alison provides expert advice in all aspects of employment law, with a particular interest in disciplinary issues, managing personal grievances, and health and safety at work.

Alison has practised exclusively in the employment jurisdiction for approximately 20 years.  Her background includes large firm and in-house local government experience, and she represents clients at mediation, in the Employment Relations Authority, and Employment Court.  Her expertise in the employment law sector has been recognised by the major legal directories, including AsiaLaw, and Chambers Asia-Pacific.  She also regularly comments on topical employment law matters in the media.

Alison’s experience covers the breadth of employment law issues, representing employers, employees, and unions in matters ranging from statutory compliance to negotiated solutions to employment relationship problems. She provides pragmatic, business-focused advice with a view to minimising cost and time for the client.  Alison works hard to ensure that advice is practical, solutions-based and delivered in plain English.

 

 

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Experience

Examples of work completed by Alison include:

  • Assisting a large employer with a redundancy process affecting a significant number of positions and employees.
  • Helping an employer investigate allegations of harassment and bullying.
  • Representing an employer in the managed exit of a senior executive.
  • Acting as an advocate for an employer during collective bargaining.
  • Negotiating the resignation of a senior manager.
  • Assisting a large manufacturer with a WorkSafe NZ investigation, and subsequent negotiation of an Enforceable Undertaking.
  • Providing tailored training to a Board of Directors, senior managers, and other employees, with regard to their legal obligations under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.
  • Representing an interested Union in a coroner’s request into the sudden death of one of its members.
Publications

Insights & Opinion / Alison Maelzer

iStock
Parker v Magnum Hire: A new era of personal grievance remedies awarded in the Employment Relations Authority?
If you heard a sudden loud noise last week – no it wasn’t a jet plane flying overhead, it was the gasp of employment lawyers across New Zealand when the Employment Relations Authority published it...
26.02.2024 Posted in Employment
employment dictionary website
Banding together: the Court’s new approach to awards for injury to feelings
One of the key remedies available to an employee who has successfully established a personal grievance in the Employment Relations Authority (Authority) or the Employment Court (Court) is compensation...
23.02.2024 Posted in Employment
iStock  Warning Speech Bubble Colour
A warning about warnings
It can be tempting for an employer to think that it is only a dismissal that requires a disciplinary process, and that a warning or a final warning can be issued simply by notifying the employee.  Be...
13.12.2023 Posted in Employment
employment dictionary website
Gloriavale residents found to be employees – yes, again!
The employment status of a worker is a concept that has long been contested and is challenging to determine for many, especially with flexible working arrangements and the so-called ‘gig economy’....
07.12.2023 Posted in Employment
Privacy Commissioner to consult on Privacy Rules for Biometric Information
With the increasing use of facial recognition technology (FRT), retinal scans, and voice recognition by an array of different agencies, privacy concerns about its collection and use are set to be form...
24.11.2023 Posted in Business Advice
Time is money – availability provisions in employment agreements and the requirement to compensate
What happens when an availability provision is non-compliant because it does not allow for compensation, but the employee is not “required” to work additional hours?  Can the employee still be sa...
21.09.2023 Posted in Business Advice & Employment
Money stack black and white
“For every dollar a Pākehā man makes…” – the latest development in addressing gender and ethnicity pay gaps
Mandatory reporting systems that would require businesses to report their gender pay gap might be on the (distant) horizon.
16.08.2023 Posted in Employment
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