The Government's Employment Relations Amendment Bill has passed its third reading, with minister Brooke Van Velden hailing "increased confidence" for businesses.
The legislation, which will largely take effect the day after it receives royal assent, introduces an income threshold of $200,000 above which workers can no longer bring personal grievances for unjustified dismissal.
It also creates a new four-part "gateway test" to determine whether workers are employees or contractors, ends payouts for employees dismissed over "serious misconduct", and removes the 30-day rule that automatically extends collective agreement terms to new employees.
Workplace Relations Minister van Velden said the reforms were about "backing business to hire with increased confidence".
“This Government is committed to maximising business confidence and accelerating business growth, and today’s changes advance both," she said in a media release.
"When employers can hire and grow their business with confidence, more people get opportunities. That means more jobs and higher-paid jobs.
"Rebalancing the employment relations settings, as this law does, brings more choice for businesses and workers to create and enter working arrangements that suit their individual needs."
Employees already on existing agreements who meet the $200,000 income threshold will have up to 12 months to renegotiate their contracts before the dismissal changes apply to them.
The bill drew sharp criticism from unions and the Opposition.
E tū union national secretary Rachel Mackintosh said the bill was "one of the most anti-worker pieces of legislation in decades."
"Rather than building fairer workplaces, this Government has legislated to weaken the rights of workers and embed a new class of low-rights contractors."
She said the law creates a route for employers to shut workers out of "core employment protections – even when they are employees in all but name."
"After the Uber drivers fought for their rights and won, this Government has changed the law so employers can sidestep that decision," she said.
"Workers who should be employees will be denied basic entitlements just because a company wants to call them a contractor.
"That’s a handout to big business at the expense of ordinary people."
Green Party workplace relations spokesperson Teanau Tuiono called the bill's passage "a dark day" and said the Government had sided with "big corporates" over workers.
"Workers have a basic right to seek remedies for unjustifiable and unlawful dismissal. This law effectively destroys that right, leaving workers completely exposed to abuses of power by their employers," he said in a media release.
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