The government has announced restrictions that'll give employees the ability to negotiate minimum set hours, in a bid to ban zero-hour contracts.

Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Woodhouse yesterday said he was ending unfair employment practices like zero-hour contracts in a package of measures.

Mr Woodhouse said in general, New Zealand has a well-functioning labour market but some changes need to be made.

"Our employment relations framework aims to strike the right balance between flexibility and certainty, however there are some practices that I believe are unnecessary and unacceptable for modern working arrangements."

However, these announcements have been met with mixed reviews, with many saying they don't go far enough.

Once employers and employees agree to the number of hours, they'll be stated up-front in an employment agreement.

But employment lawyer Anthony Russell said it's unrealistic to expect vulnerable employees to negotiate these kinds of contracts.

He believes that the type of workers who are typically on zero-hour contracts, aren't usually the type who have much "negotiation power in terms of terms and conditions."

Russell said while the proposed changes deal with periphery issues such as second jobs and compensation for cancelled shifts, they don't get to the root of the issue.

"It still hasn't done anything address the core issue of having permanent employment, without getting regular guaranteed hours from week to week."

The proposed changes will prohibit unfair practices including:

- employers not committing to any hours of work, but expecting employees to be available when required
- employers cancelling a shift without providing reasonable notice or compensation to the employee
- employers putting unreasonable restrictions on secondary employment of employees
- employers making unreasonable deductions from employees’ wages.