Another suggestion put forward by Foodstuffs was that the Government should consider sticking to a five-day minimum entitlement while raising the cap on the amount of sick leave employees are legally entitled to carry forward from year to year from 20 days, to 25 or 30 days.
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Foodstuffs says it is concerned about how doubling sick leave entitlements would affect owners of its smaller stores. First Union assistant general secretary Louisa Jones said it was disappointing that “a major supermarket chain like Foodstuffs” had chosen to take that approach. Last year, the union surveyed retail workers and 57 per cent told the union they had come to work sick due to pressure from a manager, she said.
The announcement came as Medsafe granted the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine provisional approval for use in New Zealand, allowing the two-dose inoculation to be administered to anyone 16 or over. Health workers, border workers, their families, and those most at risk of death from Covid-19 will be first in line.
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Retirement village and aged care provider Arvida Group says all new employees will need to consent to vaccination against Covid-19. (File photo) Susan Hornsby-Geluk, managing partner at Dundas Street Employment Lawyers, said stories of Similar policies were likely to become an issue in New Zealand as vaccines became available, she said.
The Council of Trade Unions is pleased that employment numbers out today show that the recovery from COVID-19 is continuing. "The number unemployed fell.