New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Annual holidays

Legal area

Court

5 Aug 2014

NZ MEAT WORKERS & RELATED TRADES UNION INC V ALLIANCE GROUP LTD CA232/2014 [2014] NZCA 367

Citation

[2014] NZCA 367
Court

Court of Appeal

The Employment Court correctly applied orthodox principles of contractual interpretation, including extrinsic bargaining evidence, and inevitably concluded the parties did not intend to preserve an additional week of annual holiday for long‑serving employees after the statutory increase to four weeks; accordingly there was no error of law and leave is refused.
21 Jul 2010

SILVER FERN FARMS LIMITED V NEW ZEALAND MEAT WORKERS AND RELATED TRADE UNIONS INCORPORATED CA CA593/2009

Citation

openlaw-996f135f_a2b4_4da0_9f34_5fc192a1451c.pdf
Court

Court of Appeal

The Employment Court applied orthodox principles of contractual interpretation, including consideration of statutory context and prior instruments; clause 10.2 could not operate to reduce statutory minimums after 1 April 2007 (Holidays Act 2003 s6(3)), and on proper construction, supported by industry history, clause 10.4 continues to confer one additional week of annual holiday for qualifying employees above the statutory minimum; there was no error of principle warranting appellate intervention, so the appeal is dismissed.
9 Sept 2009

SILVER FERN FARMS LIMITED V NEW ZEALAND MEAT WORKERS & RELATED TRADES UNION INCORPORATED CA CA229/2009

Citation

openlaw-49a1a8d9_8d00_40f2_8ed0_052571badece.pdf
Court

Court of Appeal

The Court granted leave because the proper approach to construction of collective agreements —specifically whether wording was ambiguous and whether historical predecessor documents could be considered—raises questions of law of general public importance and fits within the limited appellate review despite s214(1); the matter requires appellate determination rather than immediate refusal of appeal.

New Zealand Case Law

NZ MEAT WORKERS & RELATED TRADES UNION INC V ALLIANCE GROUP LTD CA232/2014 [2014] NZCA 367

SILVER FERN FARMS LIMITED V NEW ZEALAND MEAT WORKERS AND RELATED TRADE UNIONS INCORPORATED CA CA593/2009

SILVER FERN FARMS LIMITED V NEW ZEALAND MEAT WORKERS & RELATED TRADES UNION INCORPORATED CA CA229/2009