New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Minimum wage

Legal area

Court

11 Nov 2021

SANDHU v GATE GOURMET NEW ZEALAND LTD [2021] NZCA 591

Citation

[2021] NZCA 591
Court

Court of Appeal

Section 6 of the Minimum Wage Act requires payment of the minimum wage for the hours a worker has agreed to perform; where agreed hours are not worked (time lost) deductions from that minimum wage are lawful only in the circumstances specified in s7(2) (default of worker, illness or accident). Therefore it is unlawful to deduct wages for lost time not worked at the employer's direction.
21 May 2021

SANDHU v GATE GOURMET NEW ZEALAND LIMITED [2021] NZCA 203

Citation

[2021] NZCA 203
Court

Court of Appeal

The Court granted leave because the question whether s6 applies to contracted hours not worked and whether s7(2) permits deductions is one of general and public importance, and the appeal is not moot given ongoing related proceedings and cost issues; the legal dispute as to interpretation of s6 and s7(2) warrants determination by the Court of Appeal.
10 Apr 2018

SOUTH CANTERBURY DISTRICT HEALTH BOARD v STUART SANDERSON [2018] NZCA 82 [10 April 2018]

Citation

[2018] NZCA 82
Court

Court of Appeal

Leave to appeal was declined because the alleged errors were either factual evaluations of the Idea Services factors or not seriously arguable questions of law, and the Employment Court did not err in concluding on the particular facts that accommodated on-call time constituted work under s 6 of the Minimum Wage Act 1983.
7 Aug 2017

JANET ELSIE LOWE v DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF HEALTH, MINISTRY OF HEALTH [2017] NZSC 115 [7 August 2017]

Citation

[2017] NZSC 115
Court

Supreme Court

By majority the appellant is not a 'homeworker' under s 5 ERA because the engagement in the Carer Support scheme occurred between relief carers and the primary carers; the Ministry/DHB's role was to subsidise authorised care and did not involve selecting or securing the individual carers or creating the requisite relationship of engagement; s 5(b)'s 'in substance' test does not broaden s 5(a); payments/audit mechanisms alone do not constitute engagement by the Ministry/DHB; therefore appellant was not a deemed employee of the respondents.
19 Sept 2013

TERRANOVA HOMES AND CARE LIMITED V FAITALA CA175/2013 [2013] NZCA 435

Citation

(2013) 10 NZELR 849
Court

Court of Appeal

Compulsory employer KiwiSaver contributions are not 'payment for work' under s 6 of the Minimum Wage Act; s 6 imposes a mandatory statutory floor that prevents contractual or implicit legislative arrangements that result in payment below the minimum wage; s 101B of the KiwiSaver Act does not impliedly repeal or override s 6 and must be read subject to the MWA, therefore an employer may not deduct its compulsory KiwiSaver contributions from wages of employees paid at the statutory minimum.
17 Feb 2011

IDEA SERVICES LIMITED V PHILLIP WILLIAM DICKSON CA CA405/2010

Citation

openlaw-9c48c19a_0745_43ec_a9fc_7b170cf75fc0.pdf
Court

Court of Appeal

Sleepovers where the employee is required to be present and available with significant constraints and responsibilities constitute "work" under s 6 of the Minimum Wage Act 1983, and the employer must pay at least the statutory minimum rate for each hour worked; averaging pay over a pay period is not permitted to defeat this entitlement.
9 Jun 2010

IDEA SERVICES LTD V PHILLIP WILLIAM DICKSON CA465/2009

Citation

openlaw-b0362a9b_804b_48ec_a0fe_9ca26f9725d9.pdf
Court

Court of Appeal

The Court granted leave to appeal because the questions whether sleepovers constitute 'work' for s 6 purposes (and the relevance of collective agreement terms) and whether averaging of hourly rates is permissible raise matters of general or public importance and are arguable; the Court did not decide the substantive issues on the merits.

New Zealand Case Law

SANDHU v GATE GOURMET NEW ZEALAND LTD [2021] NZCA 591

SANDHU v GATE GOURMET NEW ZEALAND LIMITED [2021] NZCA 203

SOUTH CANTERBURY DISTRICT HEALTH BOARD v STUART SANDERSON [2018] NZCA 82 [10 April 2018]

JANET ELSIE LOWE v DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF HEALTH, MINISTRY OF HEALTH [2017] NZSC 115 [7 August 2017]

TERRANOVA HOMES AND CARE LIMITED V FAITALA CA175/2013 [2013] NZCA 435

IDEA SERVICES LIMITED V PHILLIP WILLIAM DICKSON CA CA405/2010

IDEA SERVICES LTD V PHILLIP WILLIAM DICKSON CA465/2009