Restrictions OK
Jurisdiction Employment Relations Authority - Auckland
Reference No AA 37/06
Hearing date 12 Dec 2005
Determination date 14 February 2006
Member R A Monaghan
Representation T Skinner ; C Heaton
Location Auckland
Parties Pryce v TelstraClear Ltd
Summary UNJUSTIFIED DISMISSAL - Redundancy - Respondent recruited applicant on fixed term employment agreement as manager for in-house door-to-door sales team to sell new product - Four months later applicant's role disestablished - Whether redundancy genuine - Authority accepted redundancy was genuine in that continuing operation of in-house door to door sales team not financially viable - Immediacy with which recruitment and retention problems arose called into question adequacy of human resource planning, but did not affect genuineness of redundancy - That new product was still available did not mean position was available to manage its sale - Fair procedure used to implement redundancy - Authority did not accept respondent failed to properly consider alternative positions for applicant - BREACH OF CONTRACT - Applicant sought payment for balance of fixed term - Applicant made redundant in reliance on provision in agreement for early termination in event of redundancy - No breach arising out of early termination - Sales manager
Result Application dismissed ; Costs reserved
Cases Cited McAulay v Sonoco New Zealand Ltd [1998] 2 ERNZ 225
Number of Pages 4
PDF File Link: aa 37_06.pdf [pdf 24 KB]