Minimum requirements for RSE worker employment agreements

You must provide an employment agreement to your RSE worker and a copy for us. The minimum requirements for RSE employment agreements are they must:

1. Be in writing and current at the time the RSE Limited Visa application is assessed by us, and at the time the limited visa is granted.
2. Be consistent with the terms of your Agreement to Recruit (ATR).
3. Be for employment in New Zealand planting, maintaining, harvesting, or packing crops in the horticulture or viticulture industries.
4. Be for no more than 7 months, and for citizens of Tuvalu or Kiribati who are normally resident there, 9 months. This time includes any internal travel and induction arrangements in New Zealand.
5. Be genuine.
6. Specify a ‘per hour’ rate and if applicable, the piece rates for the work to be done. And be consistent with the typical rate a New Zealand citizen or residence class visa holder worker is paid for equivalent work, in the same period and region.
7. Comply with the pay deduction and minimum remuneration requirements (check under the heading 'minimum remuneration requirements' below).
   Employee voluntary pay deductions
8. Comply with all relevant New Zealand employment law, such as the Employment Relations Act 2000, holiday and leave requirements, statutory health and safety obligations, and other minimum statutory requirements.
9. Comply with paid sick leave requirements
10. State the worker is entitled to 10 days paid sick leave, which must be 2 days on their first day of employment and an additional 2 days each month until their 4-month anniversary, when their total entitlement is reached.
11. State you will pay for half of the worker's return airfare between New Zealand and their country of residence, unless the agreement is for either a worker:
    • transferring to you from another employer, or
    • who is a citizen of Tuvalu or Kiribati, and normally resident there, in which case the agreement must state you will pay for half of the return airfare between Nadi (Fiji) and New Zealand.

Minimum remuneration requirements for employment agreements

These are the minimum remuneration requirements which need to be in an RSE worker's employment agreement.

A. The employment agreement must show:

• your worker will be paid no less than the market rate for actual hours worked
• your worker will be paid at no less than their employment agreement’s ‘per hour’ rate for hours not worked, but for which remuneration is required under the terms of agreements in B and C below.
• the total payment to the worker is no less than the relevant minimum remuneration set out in B and C and subject to D below
• workers returning for their third or subsequent seasons must be paid at least a minimum hourly rate of $25.47 (The New Zealand minimum wage $23.15 + 10%). All other workers must be paid at least a minimum hourly rate of $23.15 (The New Zealand minimum wage).

B. If the employment agreement is for 6 weeks or more, the minimum remuneration is the greater of either:

• payment at no less than 240 hours at the ‘per hour' rate, regardless of the actual availability of work, or
• payment for an average of 30 hours per week at the ‘per hour' rate for each four-week period of employment.

C. If the employment agreement is for less than 6 weeks, the minimum remuneration is payment for 40 hours per week, at the ‘per hour’ rate. This is over the period of work offered in the employment agreement, regardless of the actual availability of work.

D. If a worker transfers to you from another employer B and C do not apply. The minimum remuneration will be payment for an average of 30 hours per week at the 'per hour' rate for each four-week period of employment.