New Zealand Employment Court case summaries covering challenges to Employment Relations Authority decisions, unjustified dismissal, unjustified disadvantage, remedies, procedure, and other significant employment law issues.
These Employment Court case summaries cover significant New Zealand employment law decisions, including challenges to Employment Relations Authority (ERA) determinations. They explain the facts, the Court's reasoning, the result, and what the decision means in practice for employees and employers.
The Employment Court can hear challenges to ERA determinations, including cases heard again on a de novo basis. Some Court decisions uphold the Authority's result, while others overturn or materially change findings about dismissal, disadvantage, remedies, reinstatement, lost wages, compensation, penalties, or other employment law issues.
These summaries are intended to make the later history of important ERA cases clear. Where an Employment Court decision changes an ERA result, the Court outcome is identified so that an earlier Authority determination is not read without its subsequent history.
![Faitala and Vea v Pacific Island Business Development Trust [2026] NZEmpC 53 - disadvantage findings and remedies varied](/Images/site/EmploymentAdvocatesAucklandCard.jpg)
The Employment Court left the ERA's unjustified redundancy dismissal findings undisturbed but held the Authority erred by rejecting separate unjustified disadvantage grievances. It also substantially reassessed lost remuneration and compensation, awarding six months' lost wages to Mr Faitala, 12 months to Mrs Vea, and compensation of $30,000 and $45,000 respectively.
The Employment Court, on a de novo challenge, again granted interim reinstatement to LGY pending the substantive dismissal grievance. The Court treated the employer's additional allegations as untested and unpersuasive and held the balance of convenience and overall justice favoured reinstatement.
The Employment Court dismissed Edgecumbe Supermarket's de novo challenge and upheld the ERA awards in favour of Mrs Petersen. The Court found that the employer's conduct reasonably led her to believe she had been dismissed and that the suspension itself amounted to an unjustified dismissal.
The Employment Court overturned an ERA finding that Pact Group had justifiably dismissed Roseanne Sheridan for medical incapacity. The Court held the employer moved too quickly after a workplace-related PTSD injury, failed to wait for specialist information and did not properly engage with rehabilitation and return-to-work options.
The Employment Court overturned the ERA's finding that Bigson Gumbeze had been justifiably dismissed for serious misconduct. The Court held the dismissal substantively unjustified and awarded one year's salary and $35,000 compensation. A Court of Appeal hearing is scheduled for August 2026.
Magnum Hire sought a stay of execution after Parker's major ERA bullying and constructive dismissal win. The Employment Court refused the stay, meaning the ERA remedies remained enforceable while the challenge continued.
The Employment Court reversed an ERA interim decision and reinstated DQJ to the Inland Revenue payroll while her substantive dismissal grievance continued. The judgment was expressly provisional and did not decide the final merits.
The Employment Court reversed an ERA decision declining interim reinstatement for an Auckland Airport employee whose employment ended after he did not meet a COVID-19 vaccination requirement. The Court granted interim reinstatement while the substantive dispute continued.
