Employment Lawyer

EMPLOYMENT LAWYER
Position Purpose: The purpose of this role is to support the creation of an enabling

environment for Massey staff by providing expert advice, frameworks and
programmes which supports positive workplace relations, to support
people managers within an assigned portfolio, in the leadership and
management of their staff.

Department: People & Culture

Location: Wellington / Manawatū

Reports to: Director Employment Relations & Advisory/Legal Counsel

Responsible for: Nil.

Delegations: N/A

Job Title: Employment Lawyer

Key relationships: Internal External
HR Advisors and Senior HR Advisors Unions
People and Culture Managers Solicitors
Senior Leadership Team Providers of employment relations
Line Managers services
University Risk Manager Counterparts in other New Zealand
Universities

Massey University: We are a world-leading university in many academic disciplines and fields
of research. Our point of difference is research that is connected to
community and industry. Our researchers are developing expertise and
skills to advance human knowledge and understanding. Working together
across disciplines and locations, we solve national and global problems
through fundamental, applied, and interdisciplinary research, while
culturally and artistically enriching our world.

We are deeply committed to being a Te Tiriti-led university,
demonstrating authentic leadership in contemporary Aotearoa New
Zealand as we uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the founding document of our
nation, and its principles through our practice. We embrace this not just
as an obligation but as a real opportunity for the nation and its people.

Our educators are preparing a new generation of global leaders. Our
students are diverse and are attracted to Massey because they want to
achieve their personal goals or make their mark in the world. They
experience world-class learning that recognises their intellectual and
cultural strengths, expands their horizons and prepares them to

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contribute to a rapidly transforming world with skills, critical and creative
thinking and leadership.

We will be renowned for our passion and caring attitude. All Massey
campuses will be innovation ecosystems, acting as magnets for smart
enterprises. Wherever we are, we will operate in partnerships founded
on respect, trust, and mutual benefit. Massey is not only defined by what
we do, but by how we do it.

The purpose of the Employment Relations team is to deliver on our
About this area

people strategy by providing targeted advice, support, frameworks and
programmes and guidance to the managers on people-related issues and
deliver an exceptional employee experience across Massey University.
The team is responsible for provide proactive specialist advice and
effective and professional Employee Relations Advisory service to the
organisation. A key deliverable is to strengthen and improve the
employee relations capability in Massey.

Massey core capabilities

At Massey we are Tiriti-led, upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles through our practice, we:

• Demonstrate awareness of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and its contribution to Aotearoa New Zealand

society.

• Understand the relevance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in relation to the work of the University and

the people we serve.

• Embracing Te Reo in relevant and practical ways in our workplace interactions and engagement

with external stakeholders, giving expression to Tikanga Māori and protocols that
demonstrates that we respect and value Māori conventions in appropriate settings.

At Massey we work together with mutual respect and caring. we:

• Act with integrity and trustworthiness and give credit to others for the work they do.
• Work cooperatively and inter-dependently to foster and promote the One University approach.
• Share knowledge and communicate professionally with courtesy and mutual respect.
• Are ethical in all transactions, working within the parameters of our policies and procedures.
• Are direct, truthful and maintain confidentiality.
• Seek to understand and appreciate our differences.
• Keep ourselves and others safe; work together to embrace with the University's health, safety

and wellbeing policies, procedures and programmes; display commitment by actively
supporting all safety and wellbeing initiatives: and by actively engaging in health and safety
improvement opportunities.

At Massey we are future-focused, results- oriented and strive for excellence. we:

• Take ownership and responsibility for delivering results to support achievement of University

objectives.

• Provide the best quality services to our customers (internal and external) ensuring our

students/ stakeholders are at the heart of everything we do.

• Deliver or support world-class research, teaching and learning and citizenship.

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• Take personal responsibility for our performance, take pride in doing our job well, and commit

to ongoing personal and professional development.

• Are motivated and create a positive working environment where our values are reinforced.
• Anticipate and respond with agility and resilience to the changing needs of the University and

the communities we serve.

• Seek ways to improve our services to deliver in an efficient and effective way.
• Embrace technology and apply this innovatively to better meet the needs of those we serve.
• Challenge ourselves to reach our potential and help bring out the best in others.
• Understand how what we do contributes to the objectives of the University.

Accountabilities

Coordinate • Identify opportunities and research and recommend solutions for

Employment initiatives and practices which enhance the employment relationship and

Relations-related the capability of managers to engage confidently in staff-related issues.

programmes and • Promote and Coordinate programmes for which the Employment
projects Relations function is responsible and contribute to wider programmes as

appropriate.

Policy and Guidance • Maintain awareness of current, pending, and new legislative

Oversight developments related to employment.

• Reflect the implications of legislation for the University’s employment
  

practices and ensure appropriate policies and guidelines are developed
and maintained.

• Ensure all HR policies, procedures, and regulations etc are compliant

with current legislation.

• Assist with writing policies pertaining to the Employment Relations

function and contribute to and influence other University policies that
have implications for staff relations.

• Maintain a register of People and Culture policies and assist with policy

updates, working with other People and Culture team members who
may be responsible for taking a lead in revising policies.

• Provide advice on Official Information Act and Privacy Act Requests
• Support the Privacy Officer (Employment) and Risk Manager in

responding to Official Information and Privacy requests

Employment • Maintain an overview of the terms and conditions of all Individual

Agreements and Employment Agreements and ensure that employment agreement

Collective Bargaining form and content is contemporary and reflects legislative

developments.

• Support the development of negotiation strategies for the main

collective agreement.

• Support HR Advisors and Senior HR Advisors in developing strategy and

conducting bargaining of collective agreements e.g., the School of
Aviation.

• Establish and maintain effective long-term relationships with unions,

which are party to the Collective Employment Agreements.

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Change Management • Advise HR Advisors, Senior HR Advisors, and managers on legal
obligations arising from organisational change initiatives.

• As appropriate, broker centralised consultation with unions on

organisational change initiatives and reviews.

• Maintain a register of reviews, updating this monthly.
  

Dispute Management • Supporting the Senior Employment Relations Advisor in the management
of employment relationship problems, including personal grievances and

disputes to the level of the Mediation Service, through support of HR
Advisor’s and Senior HR Advisors, or managing these directly as assigned
by the Director Employment Relations & Advisory/Legal Counsel.

• Monitoring and maintaining a register of all personal grievances and

other employment-related disputes and intervening in a timely and
appropriate manner to protect potential risks to the University, updated
monthly.

• Manage relationship with University Mediation Service to support early

intervention and problem resolution orientation.

• Provide guidance and advice on employment investigations.
• Provide advice and support on employment matters in relation to senior

management.

Provide operational and strategic advice to clients in employment relations
General Advice and

aspects of Human Resources by:
Support

• Reflecting current best practice.
  

• Alignment with the People and Culture section and University goals,

objectives, and priorities.

• Being consistent with University policy and practice.
  

Team Contribution • Contribution to the on-going enhancement of specific areas of People
and Culture at a strategic and operational level. This may include

contributing to wider HR projects, conducting research and analysis,
developing strategies, preparing proposals, making recommendations,
and implementing change.

• Provide generalist HR Advisory support to specific client groups as

required on a needs basis.

• Participate in University working parties, project teams and policy

development forums as appropriate.

• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with key internal

and external organisations.

• Contribute to the effectiveness of the HR consultancy team.
• Ensure consultancy skills and knowledge of developments in the HR

profession are continuously updated.

• Ability to undertake duties as requested by the Director Employment

Relations & Advisory/Legal Counsel or the Executive Director- People &
Culture

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Qualifications and Experience

Qualifications: To provide expert (legal) advice around employment relations, it is
essential that the incumbent has a tertiary qualification (degree level),
with an emphasis on Human Resource Management or other relevant
subjects such as law. Employment Relations and Policy writing experience
is desirable.

Experience: To operate credibly in the role, the incumbent will require:

• 2+ years experience in a Legal role. .
• Knowledge and experience in the application and ongoing

management of contemporary employment relations practices,
ideally in a large, complex organisation.

• Experience in consulting with managers to identify business needs,

and translating these into workable solutions, facilitating the
implementation and evaluation of the initiatives.

• Proven experience in advising managers on a wide range of people-

related business issues including organisational design, role definition
and restructuring; defining consultation processes with unions and
staff over organisational and culture change; remuneration; employee
performance improvement, disciplinary processes, and employee
investigation processes regarding misconduct; conflict management;
staff survey practices; engaging with employee representatives over
individual and collective issues, and employee development.

• Experience working in a team of HR practitioners, or lawyers, working

collaboratively across different HR functions to broker solutions for
client groups.

Capabilities - Behaviour

Communication • Conducts discussions in a respectful manner, that are sincere and fully

Essential expressed.

• Develops a clear, complete understanding of needs and problems through

careful listening, probing, reflecting, and summarising.

• Delivers written and oral communications that engage audience

participants.

• Respond to their questions and concerns, and produce specific outcomes

and impact.

• Communicates in a timely manner using the appropriate style and method.
• Able to address broad audiences and stakeholder groups, working with

communication plans and a mix of communication methods.

• Able to present information clearly, concisely, and logically. Varies

content, style, and form to suit the subject.

• Ability to effectively use diplomacy and tact when engaging with clients

and external audiences.

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Working Together • Establishes and maintains productive working relationships with key

stakeholders internally and externally. Essential

• Contributes as a member with multiple teams that span function, issue,

and location.

• Establishes and maintains credibility and appropriate confidentiality with

stakeholders.

• Proactively identifies and addresses potential issues with stakeholders.
• Leverages partnerships to improve the performance of programme or

portfolios and works to resolves conflict and other obstacles to team
performance.

• Able to coach and influence internal and external stakeholders, building

constructive working relationships.

Continuous • Assist in implementation of new systems, procedures, and tools efficiently
Transformation when changes occur in the work environment.

• Works with agility, adjusting current working processes or adopting new Desired

approaches in response to changes in the organisation environment.

• Seeks challenging opportunities or assignments to grow and develop one’s

own knowledge, skills, and abilities.

Delivering Results • Maintains focus on critical work and expectations.

• Able to track and complete agreed work in planned timeframes. Essential
• Takes responsibility for escalating issues that impact on planned work and

outcomes.

• Documents how results were obtained to support knowledge transfer and

best practices.

• Supports self during change by remaining flexible, focusing on the

positives, and proactively seeking out opportunities to get involved.

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Service Centric • Acts with the internal/external stakeholder or customer in mind, seeks to

understand and deliver on customer perceptions and expectations. Essential

• Able to respond to common stakeholder queries and problems or escalate

if required.

• Responds to unexpected stakeholder requests with a sense of urgency and

positive action.

• Provides a level of customer centric service excellence that contributes to

the department’s objectives.

Capabilities - Technical

Change • Assist in identifying major activities and objectives for organisational

Management change management.

• Assists with the implementation of specific changes in organisational

Essential or
Desirable structure.

• Recognises major challenges of current organisational change

management.

• Participates in creating a specific organisational change management plan.
• Analyses major changes in organisation strategy, technology and

organisation processes.

• Follows several different change management models in the organisation.

Employee • Explains key processes and policy to HR advisory and managers on
Relations consultative obligations arising from organisational change initiatives.

• Advises on routine problems or disciplinary issues related to employee Essential

relations, such as grievances.

• Explains organisational policies, procedures, and processes for dealing

with employee relations issues. Maintains awareness of current, pending,
or new legislation that could have a potential impact.

• Assists with employment agreement processes and negotiations, including

strategy, costing, bargaining and implementation.

• Interprets and communicates employee relations policies and procedures

at the local level.

• Participates in development of procedures to address situations that could

spark a crisis.

Data Gathering • Ability to learn and use core Massey University systems.
and Reporting • Proficient in the use of Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint.

• Developing proficiency in the use of SharePoint (create new, open, edit,

Desired save).

• Performs file management tasks such as folder management and

controlled document administration.

Human Resources • Explains typical examples of proper and improper behaviour in HR policy
Policies, compliance.
Strategies and • Coaches key stakeholders on best practise HR process and policy.
Environment

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• Collaborates with stakeholder on the implementation of organisational HR Essential

policies, strategies, and plans.

• Facilitates organisational procedures to ensure effective HR strategic

planning and operations.

• Consults on the resolution of any legal and professional consequences of

HR policy breaches.

Legal Framework • Aware of the key legislation governing employment in New Zealand.
of Employment • Broad understanding of basic contractual principles.

• Understanding of the duty of good faith and of obligations in relation to

Essential organisational processes that may affect the employment of staff.

• Understand the requirements for justifiable termination of employment

and the parameters of personal grievance, employment relationship
problems and other dispute processes.

• Understands the distinctions between permanent, fixed term and casual

employment and direct employment and independent contracting.

• Familiar with mediation and adjudication processes.
  

Priority Setting • Describes team or unit priorities and how they relate to roles.

• Demonstrates an expectation that there will be ongoing shifts in demands Essential

and priorities.

• Clarifies and handles multiple concurrent and diverse activities.
• Addresses potential conflicts that impact current delivery commitments.
• Works with or leads others to re-prioritise work and reschedule

commitments as necessary.

• Responds to shifting priorities while maintaining progress of regularly.

scheduled work. Ability to learn and use core Massey University systems.

Problem Solving • Utilises accepted procedures for problem analysis and resolution.

• Uses varying problem-solving approaches and techniques as appropriate. Essential
• Develops alternative resolutions / successful resolutions to critical or wide-

impact problems.

• Contributes to standard practices for problem-solving approaches, tools,

and processes.

• Ensures capture of lessons to be learned from a problem-solving.

Tertiary • Understand and support the broad responsibility of the institution for
Education enhancing the collegiate experience for all students.
Acumen • Supports relevant legal issues and legislation (e.g., privacy laws, etc.) and

how changes can impact day-to-day. Essential

• Describe and participate in the policy development in one’s own unit and

at all institutional and governmental levels.

• Provides information to support stakeholders with information, resources.
• and policy information. Utilises accepted procedures for problem analysis

and resolution.

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Pre-employment checks

Essential

• Requirement to pass a Criminal and Traffic Convictions (Security)
Check performed by the Ministry of Justice.

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