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Small businesses have welcomed plans to rush through a law change allowing those who employ fewer than 20 people to fire staff within 90 days without having to face claims of unjustified dismissal.
But some fear it will be abused by managers who see it as an easy way to get rid of staff.
A bill mandating the 90-day trial was introduced to Parliament yesterday and is expected to be passed under urgency before Christmas with the support of the Act Party.
Grant Straker, chief executive of technology company ShadoCMS, which employs 14 staff in New Zealand, said it was a great move that would encourage him to hire people he would have considered too risky in the past.
"When we have employed people in the past we have generally taken them on ability and aptitude rather than whether they went to university. For us it means we will have a lot more confidence to take somebody on who could pose a slightly higher risk."
Straker said the law change would swing him towards hiring more staff in New Zealand rather than overseas.
"We are the only country that doesn't have a trial like that. When I talk to peers in countries like that they are dumbfounded at the New Zealand system."
Straker said that for small businesses their staff could be both assets and liabilities.
He said the current system had been particularly tough during the tight employment market.
But Paul O'Brien, chief executive of Goodhealth, which employs more than 60 people, said he had some concerns.
"New Zealand is a huge country of small and medium businesses. If there is a positive effect for the employer, that is good, but I just really hope employers treat it seriously - that they treat it professionally and don't get cavalier about it."
Employers and Manufacturers Association manager of advisory services David Lowe saw the change as part of a stimulus package for the economy.
"It's going to give employers the confidence to hire or re-hire staff sooner rather than later."
Lowe believed employers would not use the new law to cycle through staff.
"Anyone who says that business will just fire an employee after 89 days hasn't been in business."
But unions have expressed concerns that the new law could leave workers with little bargaining power.
