DRIVERS’ AWARD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 7 October 1936, Page 8

DRIVERS’ AWARD

TEST CASE AT AUCKLAND NOMINAL PENALTY IMPOSED (United Press Association) AUCKLAND, 6th October. A nominal penalty of one shilling was imposed by Mr Wyvern Wilson, S.M., in a reserved judgment in an action brought in the Magistrate’s Court by the inspector of awards against the North Shore Transport Company, Limited, for a breach of the New Zealand Passenger Transport Drivers’ Award. The case was brought as a test, as the award provided that When drivers were called back to work after having completed a daily span of 13 hours they were to be paid until finally booked off. "In this case a driver was on duty on Tnursday from 4.15 p.m. until midnight a period of 7J- hours,” said Mr Wilson. “He resumed on Friday at 3.45 p.m. until 11.30 p.m. and therefore worked more than one shift in a 24-hour day as defined by the award. It is contended that the worker was called back after having completed the daily span and before the expiration of the 24 hours which constitute a day, and that he should be paid overtime. “The clause regarding hours is obviously elliptical, for it does not say at what rate the worker shall be paid. To that extent it is incomplete. Consideration, however, must be given to the fact that it occurs under the heading of overtime, and no doubt is intended to have reference to either of the two rates of overtime provided for in another clause. If taken literally and given its widest possible meaning, the effect would be that a driver having worked his ordinary hours for one day, that is 10 hours in a span of 13, if called back to work on the twenty-third hour of the day instead of at the end of 24, would be entitled to overtime for the extra hour that he worked and also for the eight intervening hours when he was off duty.

“I cannot think that such a nonsensical effect was intended. It seems to me the object of the award, construed as a whole, would be better attained by another construction. The purpose of the regulation of hours and wages is to ensure just and adequate remuneration for ordinary hours worked and additional remuneration for hours of overtime. It must be borne in mind that the contract of service is one of exchange of labour for reward and I do not think it was intended that these drivers should be paid for hours when they were sleeping or going about their own business.

“I think, to make the clause consistent with the spirit of the award, its elliptical nature must be overcome by reading it as if it stated, ‘They shall be paid overtime for hours worked during the period from the expiration of the span of 13 hours until they are finally booked off.’ That being so, the driver in this case appears to have worked half an hour overtime within 24 hours of the day which commenced at 4.15 p.m. on Thursday.”