New and updated content

It’s hard to believe we are almost halfway through the year and the shortest day is this week.

The first six months of 2023. It has certainly been busy for the HealthyPractice team. We are always pleased to hear from you and we do acknowledge the challenging issues that practice managers and business owners deal with daily.

Remember you can email your questions to business@mas.co.nz or ring us on 0800 800 627 during business hours.

Personal Grievances for sexual harassment

An amendment to ERA means that the timeframe for a personal grievance made under Section 103(1)(d) for sexual harassment is extended from the previous 90 days. A personal grievance can now be made within 12 months, beginning with the date on which the action alleged to amount to a grievance occurred or came to their attention, whichever is later.  

There is no change to the 90-day time frame for other personal grievances raised under Section 114 of the ERA.

We have updated our employment agreement templates, to reflect these changes in the section headed Resolution of Employment Relationship Problems (either schedule 2 or 3, depending on the template). Sample agreements (healthypractice.co.nz)

Employment agreements for current employees do not need to be updated to reflect the change, but the legislation applies. But you should review any of your policies if they mention timeframes for raising a personal grievance.

Vicarious liability

The recent Supreme Court judgement in Ryan v Health and Disability Commissioner is relevant to health professionals who operate in a group practice. In this case Moore Street Medical Centre was found to be liable for the acts of one of its General Practitioner owners relating to a breach of the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights. Dr Ryan and Dr Spark effectively operated independent practices with separate patient registers and bank accounts but shared the costs for practice administration services and traded under the single trade name of Moore Street Medical Centre. As such the Court felt they presented to the public as a single medical services provider. 

We know this ‘cost-share’ independent practice structure is common in group practices. If you are unsure what impact this case will have on your practice structure you should seek advice and also check to see if your practice professional indemnity protection covers vicarious liability. Medical and dental practices can read the detail of the case here Vicarious liability (healthypractice.co.nz)

New content

This year we have added this new content:

• Diversity and inclusion Diversity and inclusion (healthypractice.co.nz)

Creating a culture in your business that is inclusive and appreciates differences will allow your staff to feel heard, respected, and safe. We live in an increasingly diverse culture that includes people from different diversity types, meaning promoting inclusion can help your business thrive. This includes supporting positive social cohesion and social equity that increases staff motivation, innovation, and creativity in the workplace.

• Sustainability Sustainability in practice (healthypractice.co.nz)

We have dipped our toe in the water with this content with links to the Sustainable Business Network and their tools to help you assess how sustainable your practice is, learn more about the circular economy or build a climate action plan for your practice.

• Wellbeing Wellbeing (healthypractice.co.nz)

We are aware there is a much bigger focus on employee wellbeing and what employers can do to help their employees to live a happy and healthy life both inside and outside of work. In a tight workforce market being able to offer a good work/life balance or access to resources to help in reaching this goal, can be a point of difference.

As well as new content we are continually updating and checking the current content.  If you have suggestions for new content, it would be great to hear from you, just email business@mas.co.nz