Restrictions OK
Jurisdiction Employment Relations Authority - Auckland
Reference No AA 119/06
Hearing date 14 Feb 2006 - 15 Feb 2006 (2 days)
Determination date 06 April 2006
Member R Arthur
Representation S Corlett ; D France, J Taylor
Location Auckland
Parties Hunt and Ors v Transportation Auckland Corporation Ltd t/a Stagecoach Auckland
Other Parties Drysdale, Rusden
Summary UNJUSTIFIED DISMISSAL – Redundancy – Alleged two of the six redundant jobs still existed and applicants should have had opportunity to apply for those jobs – Alleged breach of duty of good faith – Also claimed that respondent breached statutory duty to provide employee protection provisions in employment agreements – Genuine redundancy - New roles of service delivery manager were sufficiently different from applicants’ former roles – Was consultation and applicants’ input sought – Was the applicants who brought the process of consultation and decision to a close and early end – No failure to provide relevant information – Respondent conceded that it had failed to include employee protection provisions in applicants’ employment agreements (it was now in Collective Employment Agreement) – Purpose of the section under Part 6A Employment Relations Act 2000 requiring employee protection provisions was to give the best prospects for negotiating a transfer where the work was being shifted to a new employer – In circumstances of present case, such a clause would have made little, if any, real difference – Part of the work was staying with the same employer and the other element of the work that was to be contracted out formed such a small part of the role that there were no real prospects of any of the applicants being able to “follow” that work to the new employer – Respondent’s breach was more than technical, but was not ongoing and did not warrant a penalty in the circumstances of the case – Applications dismissed - Area quality controllers
Result Applications dismissed ; Costs reserved
Statutes ERA Part 6A
Cases Cited Aoraki Corporation Ltd v McGavin [1998] 1 ERNZ 601;Auckland Regional Council v Sanson [1999] 2 ERNZ 597;Coutts Cars Ltd v Baguley [2001] ERNZ 660 ; [2002] 2 NZLR 533;G N Hale & Son Ltd v Wellington etc Caretakers etc IUOW [1991] 1 NZLR 151;McCulloch v NZ Fire Service Commission [1998] 3 ERNZ 378;New Zealand Fasteners Stainless Ltd v Thwaites [2000] 1 ERNZ 739;Rolls v Wellington Gas Co Ltd [1998] 3 ERNZ 116;Wilkinson v Wairarapa CHE [1999] 2 ERNZ 133
Number of Pages 9
PDF File Link: aa 119_06.pdf [pdf 58 KB]