Restrictions OK
Jurisdiction Employment Relations Authority - Wellington
Reference No WA 90/05
Determination date 30 May 2005
Member P R Stapp
Representation R Alchin ; G Pollak
Location Wellington
Parties Fonterra Co-Operative Group Ltd v New Zealand Dairy Workers Union
Summary DISPUTE – Application, interpretation and operation of parental leave policy – Policy provided for paid parental leave for “support caregiver” and “primary caregiver” – Issue over how many times a “support caregiver” could utilise policy – Applicant alleged was limited to being able to utilise entitlement twice as was entitlement for primary caregiver – A support caregiver employee had taken two paid parental leave periods and applied for a third period of leave – Denied third period of leave – Provision restricted primary caregiver to paid parental leave twice under policy (and thereafter under provisions of Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act) – Were differences between paid leave entitlements for primary caregivers and support caregivers - The separate categories had mutually inclusive provisions under separate headings - On the plain meanings of the words the provision enabled support caregivers to apply more than twice for the leave entitlement - Support caregiver
Result Question answered in favour of respondent
Statutes Parental leave and Employment Protection Act 1987
Number of Pages 4
PDF File Link: wa 90_05.pdf [pdf 20 KB]