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Reader question: Please explain “zero-hour contract” in this sentence: “In New Zealand, zero-hour contracts have been banned after parliament unanimously passed a bill prohibiting the controversial practice.” My comments: Zero-hour contracts are a relatively new phenomenon, something unheard of when I was looking for a job prior to graduation from college. Quite a while ago that was, to be sure but, anyways, the key word here is zero. Zero means naught, nil, nothing. That’s the crucial point about zero-hour contracts. They guarantee you nothing. By definition, a zero-hour contract is a deal between an employer and an employee which doesn’t guarantee a minimum amount of work. Actually, the minimum is zero, so there. Since you may end up working for zero hours this week or month, you may get zero dollars or pounds or what have you in pay. That’s nothing. Zilch. Well, as you can see, that’s the controversial part of the deal. It guarantees little – or nothing if the amount of work really gets to boil down to zero. So therefore, you can view zero-hour contract as a bad example of part-time work, with even fewer guarantees. In other words, no pension plans, okay? Hey, if zero amounts of work and pay are permissible, what other benefits do you expect to look for? In short, don’t aim too high when you are negotiating a zero-hour contract. | 
