| Restrictions | OK |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | Employment Relations Authority - Auckland |
| Reference No | AA 68/06 |
| Hearing date | 3 Mar 2006 |
| Determination date | 09 March 2006 |
| Member | A Dumbleton |
| Representation | C Hull (in person) ; N Szeto |
| Location | Auckland |
| Parties | Hull v The Department of Labour |
| Summary | PARENTAL LEAVE – Application for relief to be granted in respect of a claimed irregularity in applicant’s application for parental leave – Applicant’s employment on fixed term basis (had been three engagements of that kind) – Employment ceased a few days before expected date of delivery - Most recent employer had written letter to IRD stating that if she had not been pregnant her fixed term agreement would have been extended and there was a good possibility that her position would have been made permanent – Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987 (PLEPA") required that the period of employment was to “immediately” precede the expected date of birth and that parental leave was to cease being payable from the date on which fixed term employment ends – Those requirements made applicant ineligible – Authority agreed with respondent that the reasons for applicant’s ineligibility were not matters of irregularity as defined under s68 PLEPA that the Authority could grant relief in respect of – Authority did not consider that election under s66(6)(a) Employment Relations Act 2000 (to treat fixed term as ineffective) could be made after fixed term employment has ended (In any event had been no such election) – Applicant raised concerns about level of information given by Department of Labour – Matter had not been investigated but even if Authority was able to find reasonable basis for applicant’s concerns about information given, that would still not permit the Authority to disregard the relevant provisions of the PLEPA or rewrite the applicant’s employment agreement - In this case it seemed that applicant’s employment agreement could have readily been structured without prejudice to her employer to achieve the wider purposes of the PLEPA for applicant by allowing her access to paid parental leave" |
| Result | Application dismissed ; No order for costs |
| Statutes | ERA s65;ERA s66(4);ERA s66(6);Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987 s7(b);Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987 s68(5);Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987 s71(3)(a) |
| Number of Pages | 3 |
| PDF File Link: | aa 68_06.pdf [pdf 17 KB] |