MINING TEST CASE

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 147, 18 March 1937, Page 12

MINING TEST CASE

Claim for Sunday Wages Over Long Period

Grej mouth, March 17.

An unprecedented mining wages claim of considerable interest, in which the Rimu Flat Gold Dredging Company, which was represented by Mr. 11. F. O'Leary, K.C., Wellington, was defendant, was heard in the Warden’s Court at Hokitika to-day by Mr. Raymond Ferner, S.M., when Charles McLean, dredge employee, represented by Mr. P. J. O’Regan, Wellington, claimed £94/13/- allegedly due as wages for Sunday work over a period of six years. McLean claimed under Section 266 of the Mining Act that he was entitled to time and a half for Sundays. The case was a test case, as 36 other employers are in a similar position. Mr. O’Regan said: “We did not know till the recent conciliation proceedings that they were entitled to time and a half on Sundays.”

Mr. O’Leary called tho evidence of W. J. Radford, general manager of the company, who claimed that the 14a day paid to March 31, 1934, was at a higher rate, thus compensating for Sundays, and that the £2O a month paid since included Sundays in the computation. Mr. Ferner reserved his decision.