Wage checks clog Labour Dept

Press, 25 February 1980, Page 24

Wage checks clog Labour Dept

Trade-union officials, Labour Department inspectors, and employers are having to spend more and more of their time checking wage payments. In the year to March 31, 1979, arrears of wages amounting to more than 51.5 million were paid at the instigation of the Labour Department, of which $61,622 was paid out by employers in the Christchurch district. The increasing complexity of industrial law, the frequent wage orders and adjustments, and the tendency for trade unions to push for more allowances has increased the risk of employers making mistakes in. wage payments. It has also meant that Labour Department inspectors 'now have to . spend up to 40 per cent of their time checking wage books. They do this in the normal course of . inspections or after receiving complaints from wage earners. But Labour Department figures show only half the story. Many . complaints go through trade unions or are handled directly between the worker and his employer. Th? Canterbury Hotel

Workers’ Union collected $74,000 in wage arrears for its members in the last 12 months, while another big union, the Canterbury Clerical Workers’ Union, collected $86,000 in the year ended April, 1979. About half of that was for underpayments, the rest for redundancy or other compensation. “Its frightening,” said one union official. He said that most of the employers having problems with wages were not members of the Canterbury Employers’ Association. The association’s director (Mr N, M. West) said that with the complexity of industrial legislation and the provision for arrears to go back as far as six years, it was vital that employers kept themselves fully informed. “It is one of the benefits of joining our association,” he said. Most of the claims for wage arrea. are settled amicably, but some are disputed and have to be settled in the Arbitration Court. Of the 30 cases handled in the year to March 31 last year; 24 were won by the plaintiffs, who were awarded judgments totalling almostsl7,ooo,