"A bit of a mess." That's how one employment lawyer has described what's been left in the wake of COVID-19 vaccine mandates being lifted.
Employers are now out on their own to decide who does - and doesn't - have to be vaccinated. But there's still no official guidance and the COVID-19 Response Minister is even recommending bosses lawyer up before they make any decisions.
Down the stairs, buried below the streets of Wellington, bar owner Dominic Kelly has been scratching his head.
"It's a difficult problem, really," he told Newshub.
For the past 24 hours, he's been agonising over whether to remain a vaccine-only venue.
"When it becomes optional, we can realistically expect quite a lot of negative feedback if we continue to apply it but the problem is it's all we've got," he said.
It's the only protection he's got but people are already deleting the vaccine pass app.
"There's not a lot of guidance about what's at our disposal to protect ourselves."
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says there is time to plan, with the mandates still in place until April 4.
"Keep in mind of course this doesn't require an instant reaction for those workplaces," she said on Thursday.
To celebrate easing restrictions, the Prime Minister visited Auckland's Eden Park, which can hold all the events it likes without gathering limits from Friday.
But it's suddenly become very complicated for bosses thinking about whether to drop their own mandates.
"Each employer will have to make their own health and safety assessment and make their own decisions about how they keep their staff safe," employment lawyer Ethel Chey told Newshub.
But the official advice on Omicron health and safety assessments wasn't ready to go.
"That advice that we're wanting to make sure is prepared in a really timely way, we'll look to get it out there as soon as possible," Ardern said. "It may have already been provided."
It hasn't been.
The mandate rug is also ripped out from under schools.
"It's concerning that schools have to do that on an individual basis," says Whangarei Intermediate principal Hayley Read, who let two unvaccinated teachers go.
She wants to keep a vaccine mandate.
"I'll be asking my board to take a position of only hiring vaccinated staff."
But COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins told AM: "A board cant say we're just going to keep an across the board mandate in place."
He even told schools - and private bosses - to lawyer up if they want to keep their mandates.
"I'd suggest that they need to get good legal advice as they're making any such decision," Hipkins said.
Employment lawyer Ethel Chey said: "We have already been very busy."
Asked whether employers can ask new hires about their vaccination status, Chey said yes.
As for whether unvaccinated staff can be told to stop working from home, she said: "It is your right to require them to return to the office, however you also have a corresponding duty to keep them safe."
Ethel says what's tricky is not only is there no official advice yet, but no law.
So, to summarise it, she said: "It is a bit of a mess."
