• Job Type: Secondment
• Category: Legal
• Location: Wellington (Te Whanganui a Tara)
• Date Advertised: 05-FEB-21
• Job Reference: APA/1507793
• Job Title: Senior Employment Lawyer
• Business Unit:
• Division:
• Summary:

• Collaborative advisory role partnering with our people leaders & HR specialists
• Full-time fixed-term/secondment opportunity – up to 9 months
• Role is Wellington based – location flexibility may be considered

‘Kotahi anō te kaupapa, ko te oranga o te iwi’  –  ‘There is only one purpose to our work:  the wellness and wellbeing of our people.

Ara Poutama Aotearoa is a large, 24/7 business, managing complex information both for our Department and the wider Justice Sector. Our Finance Planning & Assurance Group provides enterprise wide business planning, oversight and monitoring to track progress towards achieving Hōkai Rangi, our over-arching strategy. It ensures Corrections work efforts are planned, aligned and connected, conducted lawfully and safely in a financially stable way. 

Mō te tūnga | About the role

Within our Legal Services Unit, but working closely with our Employee Relations team, the Employment Law team have an opportunity for an experienced employment lawyer to join them on a fixed term/secondment basis.  In this senior role, you’ll liaise and collaborate with our people managers and our HR specialists on a regional and national level to provide expert in-house employment law advice and management for a range of employment issues such as employment investigations, disciplinary cases and litigation.  This will extend to managing mediations to facilitate negotiation and settlement between parties, working with external lawyers, overall ensuring positive and constructive collaboration with parties and finding creative ways to reach mutual solutions.

If successful, you’ll join a small, close-knit team of legal specialists who are based at our Wellington national office, reporting to the Principal Employment Lawyer who is based at one of our Nelson sites.

Ngā pūkenga me ngā wheako | Skills and experience

If this sounds like the right opportunity for you then we encourage you to apply online. The panel will be looking for clear evidence and/or examples within your written applications against the following key requirements:

• Holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and a NZ Law Society practising certificate;
• Sound knowledge of employment relations and human resources practice, and relevant employment legislation / case law in New Zealand;
• Advocacy and mediation experience combined with the ability to speak confidently and authoritatively from a reasoned perspective;
• Ability to manage ER / employment law issues and provide best-practice ER advice and guidance to managers;
• Self-managing and capable of prioritising competing demands while working and collaborating with others;
• Strong communication skills including experience in conflict resolution, influencing, persuading and negotiating;
• Strong relationship management skills including a collaborative and consultative approach to working with colleagues and stakeholders; and
• Strong writing skills with the ability to draft, edit and review documents where attention to detail is important.

Tono ināianei | Apply Now

To apply, upload a tailored CV and a cover letter (PDF) that describes your motivation for the role and that highlights your relevant skills and experience. Alignment to our kaupapa and our over-arching strategy Hōkai Rangi is critical to your success – we ask that you provide examples which reflect and demonstrate our organisation values. 

The closing date for applications is 9pm on Thursday 18 February 2021.  Interviews may be offered remotely using Microsoft Teams. 

The salary for this role starts from $91,953 up to $129,816 based on demonstrable skills and expertise.

If you want to find out more about a career with us, visit careers.corrections.govt.nz or email our team at recruitment@corrections.govt.nz.