BUTCHERS' EMPLOYEES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22378, 26 March 1936, Page 13

BUTCHERS' EMPLOYEES

PERMANENT"CASUAL" HANDS t IMPORTANT COURT DECISION [BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION] CHRISTCHURCE, Wednesday A decision of importance to employers in the butchery trade throughout New Zealand was given in the Magistrate's Court to-day by Mr. Reid, S.M., when he upheld the employment in a butcher's shop of permanent "casual" hands. Action was brought by the Labour? Department against John Shaw, butcher, who was alleged to have employed a first small goods hand for four years below the minimum award wage. The defence was that the hand, who received £3 a week, was employed from Mondays to Fridays on a casual basis, namely, he received a higher hourly rate, but was subject to dismissal at the end of any day. Counsel cited the railways permanent "casuals" as another instance.

The magistrate said that those circumstances denoted the casual nature of the employment, notwithstanding that the man continued to work for years on the terms of his original engagement. At the request of the defence the magistrate declined to state a case for appeal, but entered judgment for defendant, who waived the question of security for appeal to allow the Labour Department to carry the case to the Court of Appeal.