Employment Court of New Zealand Te Kōti Take Mahi o Aotearoa

[2022] NZEmpC 68 KAQ v Attorney-General (Interlocutory Judgment (No 5) of Chief Judge Christina Inglis, 21 April 2022) APPLICATION TO ACCESS COURT DOCUMENTS – matter was discontinued before hearing – public interest in subject matter – confidentiality issues – limited access granted.

[2022] NZEmpC 66 Solander Maritime Limited v Munro (Judgment of Chief Judge Christina Inglis, 14 April 2022) APPLICATION FOR FREEZING ORDERS AND ANCILLARY ORDERS – satisfied that there is a real risk that assets will be dissipated – just to make ancillary orders for the purposes of eliciting information relating to assets relevant to freezing order – applications granted.

[2022] NZEmpC 64 Courage v Attorney-General (Interlocutory Judgment (No 11) of Chief Judge Christina Inglis) APPLICATION TO ACCESS COURT DOCUMENTS – principle of open justice – no confidentiality or commercial sensitivity interest impacted – application granted.

[2022] NZEmpC 62 Craighead Diocesan School Board of Proprietors v Thompson (Interlocutory Judgment of Judge K G Smith, 6 April 2022) APPLICATION TO STRIKE OUT PROCEEDING – ss 174E and s 179(1) Employment Relations Act 2000 – Minimum Wage Order – Authority dismissed defence that defendant was paid an all-inclusive salary – Authority determined that allowance not part of defendant’s remuneration for calculation of minimum wage – Rejecting defence involved findings of fact by the Authority and not challenging that conclusion would put party in a position where an attempt to dispute them after the next stage of the Authority’s investigation would be time barred by s 179(2) Employment Relations Act 2000 – Application declined.

[2022] NZEmpC 60 The Chief of New Zealand Defence Force v Darnley (Judgment of Judge Kathryn Beck, 30 March 2022) RECALL – VERY SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES – SLIP RULE – substantive judgment contained an erroneous date –  length of delay only relevant under s 114 if exceptional circumstances exist - error had no impact on the outcome – did not provide an opportunity to revisit conclusions or reframe arguments – interests of justice and finality considered – recall application declined – error corrected under slip rule. 

[2022] NZEmpC 58 GF v Comptroller of the New Zealand Customs Service (Interlocutory Judgment (No 4) of Chief Judge Christina Inglis, 30 March 2022) APPLICATION FOR FURTHER AND BETTER PARTICULARS – particulars are sufficient – application declined.

[2022] NZEmpC 55 Wei v Sunlight JMB Future Ltd (Interlocutory (No 2) of Judge K G Smith, 30 March 2022) APPLICATION FOR UNLESS ORDERS – no grounds for unless orders – application declined.

[2022] NZEmpC 54 Courage v Attorney-General (Interlocutory Judgment (No 10) of Chief Judge Christina Inglis, 25 March 2022) APPLICATION TO ACCESS COURT DOCUMENTS – no grounds to refuse application – application granted.

[2022] NZEmpC 52 Fechney v Employment Relations Authority (Judgment of Judge J C Holden, 23 March 2022) APPLICATION FOR JUDICIAL REVIEW – Employment Relations Act 2000, s 184 restricts grounds of review for Employment Relations Authority determinations – natural justice not a ground of review – no bad faith by Employment Relations Authority – application declined.

[2022] NZEmpC 50 Gate Gourmet New Zealand Ltd v Sandhu (Costs Judgment of Chief Judge Christina Inglis, 22 March 2022) COSTS – GUIDELINE SCALE – costs should follow the event even if case is a test case – no uplift warranted – external legal research cannot be claimed as a disbursement – Calderbank offer not sufficiently certain – costs on costs awarded.

[2022] NZEmpC 48 E Tu Inc v Mount Cook Airline Ltd (Judgment of Judge K G Smith, 18 March 2022) MINIMUM WAGE ACT – SLEEPOVER – whether cabin crew staff were working while stationed away from home – no restriction during time away – sleepovers were not work – INTERPRETATION OF MINIMUM WAGE ORDER – whether part-time salaried workers were being paid minimum wage – Minimum Wage Order is clear – part-time salaried workers must receive at least the amount specified in cl 4(d).

[2022] NZEmpC 46 UQE v TBN (Judgment of Chief Judge Christina Inglis, 16 March 2022) PERSONAL GRIEVANCE – RAISING THE GRIEVANCE – grievance was not raised in time – employer did not consent to grievance being raised out of time.

[2022] NZEmpC 44 Courage v Attorney-General (Interlocutory Judgment (No 8) of Chief Judge Christina Inglis, 15 March 2022) APPLICATION FOR ACCESS TO COURT DOCUMENTS – application granted.