IMPORTANT TEST CASES

Southland Times, Issue 23181, 23 April 1937, Page 4

IMPORTANT TEST CASES

DAIRY FACTORY WORKERS INVOLVED INDUSTRIAL LEGISLATION Two important test cases affecting the conditions of dairy factory employees were heard in the Magistrate’s Court, before Mr W. H. Freeman S.M., yesterday when the Inspector of Factories (Mr H. M. Hopper) brought two prosecutions against the Seaward Downs Dairy Factory Company Ltd., for whom Mr S. M. Macalister appeared. It was stated that the parties were seeking the interpretation of the court on involved points in recent industrial legislation. Mr Hopper said the Labour Department alleged a breach of the Factories Amendment Act, 1936, by failing to pay overtime. The case was a rather important test of sections 14 and 15 of the Act and was taken at the request of the defendant company. There was a big number of conflicting legal opinions and the case was on all fours with a case recently taken in Nelson affecting gasworks employees. On the decision of the court rested the question whether employees of. gasworks and dairy factories were entitled to receive extra payment for work on the statutory half-holiday. At Nelson, Mr T. E. Maunsell, S.M, had given his decision in favour of the department. Security for appeal had been granted.

Result of Appeal The magistrate suggested that the case should be held over until the result of the appeal was known. Mr Macalister said there was no indication yet that the case would go to appeal. Mr Hopper said there was no dispute about the facts. A workman at the Seaward Downs dairy factory had worked on 27 consecutive Saturdays without receiving any additional payment as prescribed in the Act. Subsection 4 of section 14 of the Factories Amendment Act, 1936, provided that anyone employed on the statutory halfholiday for the district should be paid at one and a-half times the ordinary rate of remuneration. That section as it affected dairy factory and gasworks employees had been modified by Order-in-Council on August 12, 1936, under the authority of the Finance Act. Doubt had been expressed about the effect of the Order-in-Council, but the department contended that it referred only to Sundays and whole holidays and made no reference to half-holidays. The Order stated that in lieu of the provisions of the Factories Amendment Act treble and double time for whole holidays and Sundays was reduced to time and a-half. Mr Hopper contended that the Finance Act provided for the extension or modification of the Act and not for a substitution for its provisions in toto. He submitted that it was only fair that a man should be adequately remunerated for working when other people were free. Difficulty of Interpretation Mr Macalister said the case illustrated the difficulty of interpreting the different Acts. The whole position was rather a jumble. It appeared that the various parties would have to rely on the decisions of die courts until the legislation was collated and made more clear. Under the Factories Amendment Act all employees were entitled to holidays and half-holidays. Under an order of the Court of Arbitration on August 22, 1936 the hours in dairy factories were fixed at 52 a week to be worked on any six days of the week. Dairy factories were operated on every day of the week and council submitted that the intention was to fix a six-day week. The Finance Act provided that all or any of the requirements of sections 4, 14 and 15 of the Factories Amendment Act might be modified and counsel contended that if all the requirements were to be modified a complete substitution was intended. The fact that the Order-in-Council was so drawn indicated that half-holidays were not intended for dairy factory employees. The Magistrate remarked that if this argument were not tenable the Order-in-Council was ultra vires and the provisions of the Act remained. Mr Hopper said l.e did not think the intention was that dairy factory workers should be less favourably placed than workers in other industries. The Magistrate reserved his decision. Holiday Allowance •In the second case the inspector of factories proceeded against the same defendant company for a penalty for an alleged breach of the Otago and Southland Dairy Factory Assistants’ Award in failing to allow a proportionate holiday allowance for a worker. Mr Hopper said that in the terms of the award an employee of a cheese factory was entitled to receive three weeks’ holiday on full pay at the end of the season after eight months’ employment or a proportonate allowance for employment over two months. The worker in question had been employed for 14 weeks and tour days and a-half. When the 1931 award was drawn up the employees worked seven days a week, but under the order of: the Arbitration Court last year where two or more workers were employed in a dairy factory they were not now allowed to work seven days. The defendant company had taken up the attitude that the need for holidays no longer existed. The inspector submitted that the award was in force and that the provision for holiday allowance remained. Mr Macalister submitted that certain additional concessions had been provided by statute and Order-in-Council and the workers were now in as good if not better, position than in 1931 without the holiday . allowance. The Finance Act, 1936, did not require that the workers should be in a better position than in 1931. He quoted the earnings of the assistant to show that they were equal to 1931 rates without the holiday allowance. Mr Hopper contended that the earnings quoted included overtime which could not be taken into consideration when calculating rates of remuneration. The Magistrate reserved his decision.

TARANAKI COMPANY UPHELD

PAYMENT OF WAGES TO EMPLOYEES (United Press Association) NEW PLYMOUTH, April 22. A decision on a point of industrial law affecting dairy companies throughout the Dominion to an estimated extent of upwards of £30,000 annually in the payment of wages to factory employees was made by Mr W. H. Woodward, S.M., at the Stratford Magistrate’s

Court in an action brought by the Inspector’ of Factories against the Cardiff Co-operative Dairy Company. The Magistrate upheld the company’s contention that a clause in the 1930 award providing for three weeks’ holiday on full pay (or a proportionate period according to the length of employment) at the termination of an employee’s services, was not, under the provisions of the Finance Act, 1936, applicable to the agreement made in 1934, and still in force. Had the decision been against the company the dairy industry would have been obliged to pay £5OOO to employees in Taranaki alone this season. The case was regarded as a test one.