An alarming five-year rate of 140,930 Bay of Plenty redundancies has the Labour party coming to the defence of workers with an impending bill.

According to Statistics NZ, the Bay sits fourth highest in national job redundancies.

Latest figures from Statistics New Zealand show the Bay of Plenty sits fourth highest in national job redundancies, part of a national total of 1.8 million.

Auckland recorded 560,000, Wellington 205,000 and Waikato 163,000 during the same five-year period.

Labour MP Sue Moroney, speaking out in defence of workers, claims many job losses are as a result of shock redundancy – without any compensation.

'The share volume is actually quite shocking,” says Sue.

'Workers who have lost their jobs, due to no fault of their own, deserve to be protected.”

The MP currently has the Redundancy Protection Bill going before parliament, and ahead of the first reading (due within the next week) Labour, Greens, NZ First and the Maori party have expressed their support for the bill while National are opposing.

If passed, the bill will require employers give workers four weeks' notice of any impending redundancy. They will also need to pay employees for four weeks for the first year of service, along with two weeks per year following – up to a total of 26 weeks.

One Tauranga law firm is putting the spike in redundancies down to the global economic recession.

Tauranga's Employment and Environment Law partner Danny Jacobson says the recession has required many Bay employers to examine their business costs and efficiencies to remain viable.

In many cases employers view redundancy as a last resort – and do not take redundancy decision lightly or callously, says Danny.

'Often there is a difficult balancing exercise in maintaining sufficient staff resources to meet current and potential business demand on the one hand, against a dropping or negative balance sheet on the other.”

While it is mostly the larger corporate and governmental employers which provide for redundancy compensation payments in their employment agreements, all employers are required to give reasonable notice on termination for redundancy.

Such termination can only occur after there has been proper consultation with an affected employee on any proposed redundancy.

Sue says the advocating for minimum protections for all workers is for a worker – if made redundant – to have the necessary means to find new employment.

'An estimated 80 per cent of working New Zealanders have no redundancy protections written into their employment agreement. Because there are no requirements in New Zealand law for minimum redundancy notice and compensation – many workers are left in the lurch.

'We aren't just talking about workers on the factory floor – but niche and high tech industries where work can be even more difficult to find.

For many New Zealanders, losing their job can mean not being able to pay their mortgage or support themselves and their families while searching for new work.

'Job hunting isn't cheap. When you are between jobs the bills don't stop coming in,” says Sue.

'Redundancy pay doesn't make up for the loss of a job. But the important thing is being left with a feeling of dignity and respect.

Danny says an employer must have genuine reasons for redundancy; and in recent cases the Employment Court has been demonstrating a close scrutiny of the employers' reasons for redundancy, as well as the fairness of the process followed.

'Any redundancy must be carefully thought through by an employer, and this is not generally an easy process.”