New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Calculation of earnings-related compensation

Legal area

Court

25 Sept 2020

VAN DER EIK v ACCIDENT COMPENSATION CORPORATION [2020] NZHC 2523

Citation

[2020] NZHC 2523
Court

High Court

Retiring leave under Police Regulations r79A is within the broad concept of "earnings as an employee" in s52(2)(a) but, insofar as it is a lump-sum paid on retirement, it falls within the bracketed exception as accrued long-service (or alternatively accrued holiday) leave pay and thus counts as earnings under s52; however it does not form part of "normal average weekly earnings" under s53 because the base entitlement existed from commencement of employment and was not accruing in the relevant pre-accident periods (weekly, 28-day, 12-month) and cannot fairly be apportioned into those averages,…
31 Aug 2016

ACCIDENT COMPENSATION CORPORATION v SMITH [2016] NZHC 2051

Citation

[2016] NZAR 1152
Court

High Court

The Appeal Authority does not have jurisdiction to recall an earlier sealed (perfected) decision; that conclusion is reinforced where the sealed decision has been appealed to and considered by a higher court; the 'justice of the case' or 'exceptional circumstances' principles did not justify recall in this case.
20 Jan 2009

Currey v Accident Compensation Corporation

Citation

[2009] NZACC 2
Court

District Court

ACC correctly included employer superannuation contributions at their actual exempt value in the claimant's pre-accident earnings, properly calculated 80% earnings-related compensation, and was obliged to deduct PAYE from that compensation; there is no legal basis to notionally gross up tax-exempt employer contributions or require ACC to pay the claimant's tax.
3 Sept 1996

Accident Rehabilitation and Compensation Insurance Corporation v McGhie

Citation

[1996] NZACC 68
Court

District Court

Section 138(1) preserves entitlement under section 59 of the 1982 Act and necessarily permits the use of sections 52 and 53 to calculate relevant earnings; moreover section 138(2) authorises adjustments to those preserved calculations when accurate information warrants recalculation. Accordingly the appellant was entitled to recalculate the respondent's earnings-related compensation and the review officer's finding that the appellant acted ultra vires was set aside.

New Zealand Case Law

VAN DER EIK v ACCIDENT COMPENSATION CORPORATION [2020] NZHC 2523

ACCIDENT COMPENSATION CORPORATION v SMITH [2016] NZHC 2051

Currey v Accident Compensation Corporation

Accident Rehabilitation and Compensation Insurance Corporation v McGhie