Advisory Services

We are able to offer members professional legal advice at no additional charge* to the annual membership subscription and access to this service is available to you from the day you subscribe to the Hospitality Association. Our specialty areas are Liquor Licensing and Employment and this advice can be provided to you by either our in-house Legal Adviser - Alyn Higgins - or one of our eight Regional Managers. We also provide advice on the preparation of Health and Safety Plans in order to meet OSH requirements, Building Warrant of Fitness and Fire Regulations.

1. Employment Relations Advice

Our Employment Relations Service includes:

• Free legal advice 24 hours per day, seven days per week by way of our toll-free number. As examples, advice is available on such issues as: Public Holiday entitlements, Parental Leave, ACC entitlements, negotiations with employee unions, written/verbal warning procedures, employee dismissals or redundancies.
• Access to current hospitality industry wage rates and salaries as per our annual survey.
• Assistance with personal grievance claims and representation at mediation hearings with your costs being restricted to travel/accommodation charges if applicable.

Access to the most up to date employment documents tailored for the Hospitality Industry which include:

• An Application Form for hiring staff
• A draft Letter of Offer of Employment
• A variety of draft Individual Employment Agreements, depending on the status of your employees, e.g. wages versus salary employees.
• A draft Dispute Resolution Procedure
• A model set of House Rules

These documents are available by hard copy, e-mail, fax, or via our website at no charge. Your Regional Manager is available to assist you to use them correctly and/or to personalise them to your needs as required.

B. Information Sheets

• A guideline for establishing a Sexual/Racial Harassment Policy
• The HANZ Five Steps to Good Employee Relations
• A Checklist for hiring staff
• An explanation of the correct procedure for disciplinary action
• Employee entitlements for Public Holidays
• Parental Leave

2. Liquor Licensing Advice

Similarly, our Legal Adviser and Regional Managers are able to provide you with advice about Liquor Licensing matters. For example:

• How best to deal with objections to your licence application.
• What the chances of being successful in applying for a variation to your liquor licence might be.
• Assistance with Special Licence applications.
• Clarification of your rights to trade on special days, eg ANZAC day, Easter Friday, Christmas Day.
• Clarification of who is able to drink on your premises - in terms of minors.

We are also able to provide you with guidance on how best to work with your local authorities regarding your liquor licence. Our Regional Managers are involved with Local Liquor Liaison Groups and meet with relevant parties to discuss licensing matters on a regular basis. We have also been involved with the development of many Council Liquor Policies. In addition, we have a library of information regarding Liquor Licensing case law that may be valuable to you if you are having problems with your liquor licence application.

We're here to help you and this has to be the best offer for Hospitality Businesses in New Zealand!