SOLDIERS NOT REINSTATED

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23301, 10 April 1941, Page 6

SOLDIERS NOT REINSTATED

COMPLAINTS AGAINST

EMPLOYERS MINISTER’S WARNING (P.A.) WELLINGTON, April 9. “Officers of my department have received a large number of complaints that employers have failed to reinstate in their former positions men who have recently completed their territorial training,’’ said the Hon. P, C. Webb (Minister for Labour) to-night. "Under the Occupational Re-estab-lishment Regulations,” said the Minister, “territorial training is included under the .heading military service. The regulations provide that a person who renders military service is to be reinstated in employment when his period of military service ends, or When he is on leave without pay, , His Reinstatement must be under conditions not less favourable to him than he would have enjoyed if his employment had not been interrupted. This includes the benefit of any increments in pay to which he would have been entitled. These provisions apply only to a worker employed for at least four weeks before enlisting or being called up. When a worker is reinstated he must not be dismissed within six months except under the conditions mentioned in the regulations. “An employer who commits a breach of these regulations is liable tp imprisonment for 12 months or a fine of £K)O, or both. In addition, he may be required to pay the employee improperly dismissed or not reinstated an amount not exceeding his pay for 12 weeks, or for the period of leave. Possible Defences “It is a defence for the employer to protffe that application for reinstatement was not made within the prescribed period, a month in the case of service in New Zealand after discharge, or during any period of leave, or that the worker failed without reasonable excuse to present himself for employment. An employer may also make the defence that, by reason of a change of circumstances, it is not reasonably practicable to reinstate the employee; but these circumstances do not include the fact-'that some other person was engaged, to replace the former employee. “In the case of dismissal within six months of reinstatement, the employer must prove that the dismissal was for a reason not connected with his obligations under the regulations. “I would especially remind employers that where a person has been employed to take the place of a worker rendering military service, and this covers territorial training, employers should note that the onus is placed on them to bring themselves within the defences set out in the regulations. I am instructing officers of my department that in every case where a breach is considered to have been established they are tc| take steps to allow the courts to decide whether the employer has been justified in the action he took. “These regulations do not apply where contracts of apprenticeship are, in operation, as these are dealt with under the suspension of apprenticeship emergency regulations, 1939. During military service a contract of apprenticeship is suspended, and for six months after, unless revived in accordance with the regulations.” When an apprentice is discharged from military service he may give notice to his employer, in writing, that he desires the contract to revive and be continued from the date of the notice, either for a period fixed by the contract or for the expired term of his apprenticeship.”