| Summary |
PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE - Identity of employer - Application to reopen personal grievance - No appearance for respondent - When employment relationship ended, applicant raised personal grievance and notified employer of outstanding wages - Parties reached full and final settlement of matters between them at mediation, with applicant not pursuing personal grievance and respondent paying outstanding wages by instalments - Respondent failed to fully honour settlement agreement - Applicant alleged respondents misrepresented themselves in mediated settlement as limited liability company, Sharvai Enterprises Limited (“S”), when in fact traded as partnership - Authority found appeared was never company incorporated as S - Insofar as operators of S represented had benefits of limited liability operators in breach of Companies Act 1993 - Authority satisfied applicant employed by respondents, not S - Applicant sought to set aside mediated settlement, given breaches by respondents, and reintroduce personal grievance claim - Authority satisfied applicant prevented from doing so by s149(3) Employment Relations Act 2000 - Application dismissed - ARREARS OF WAGES - Applicant still owed outstanding wages and other monies pursuant to mediated settlement - Respondents to pay outstanding wages - PENALTY - Applicant settled rather than pursuing personal grievance claim, facilitating prompt resolution - Respondent flagrantly breached settlement agreement and applicant now prevented from reopening personal grievance - Authority satisfied appropriate case to award penalty - $4,000 penalty awarded, payable to applicant - COSTS - Costs to lie where they fall - Truck driver |