Section 20 — Employment Relations Act 2000: Access to workplaces

20 Access to workplaces (1) A representative of a union is entitled, in accordance with this section and section 21 , to enter a workplace— (a) for purposes related to the employment of its members; or (b) for purposes related to the union's business; or (c) both. (2) The purposes related to the employment of a union's members include— (a) to participate in bargaining for a collective agreement: (b) to deal with matters concerning the health and safety of union members: (c) to monitor compliance with the operation of a collective agreement: (d) to monitor compliance with this Act and other Acts dealing with employment-related rights in relation to union members: (e) with the authority of an employee, to deal with matters relating to an individual employment agreement or a proposed individual employment agreement or an individual employee's terms and conditions of employment or an individual employee's proposed terms and conditions of employment: (f) to seek compliance with relevant requirements in any case where non-compliance is detected. (3) The purposes related to a union's business include— (a) to discuss union business with union members: (b) to seek to recruit employees as union members: (c) to provide information on the union and union membership to any employee on the premises. (4) A discussion in a workplace between an employee and a representative of a union, who is entitled under this section and section 21 to enter the workplace for the purpose of the discussion,— (a) must not exceed a reasonable duration; and (b) is not to be treated as a union meeting for the purposes of section 26 . (5) An employer must not deduct from an employee's wages any amount in respect of the time the employee is engaged in a discussion referred to in subsection (4) . Compare: 1991 No 22 ss 13, 14(1) Subsections (4) and (5) were inserted, as from 1 December 2004, by section 9 Employment Relations Amendment Act (No 2) 2004 (2004 No 86). See section 73 of that Act for the transitional provisions.