Employment Law New Zealand

Ben Devine had historically held permanent nursing hours but Health New Zealand later relied on documents describing part of his work as casual and left him on an unpaid stand-down. The case concerned the real nature of the employment relationship and whether the employer could remove work and pay without a proper process.

ZiGen Wong worked for NZAT Construction without a valid work visa and was later denied wages and employment protections on the basis that the arrangement was not lawful employment. He claimed employee status, arrears and constructive dismissal.

Tracy Alpar worked for Bookieland under an unsigned seasonal fixed-term arrangement and was later told through WhatsApp that her employment had ended. The ERA had to decide whether the purported fixed term complied with the statutory requirements and whether the termination was justified.

Gaetan Duvaux was made redundant by Mega after a selection process in which scoring and comparative information were not fully disclosed and the employee argued the outcome had effectively been chosen in advance. The business case itself was not the only issue: the fairness of selection and consultation was central.

Packaging operator Arnold Putt challenged disciplinary action by George Weston Foods after a confrontation with his production manager about task priorities. The ERA examined both the basis for a final written warning and whether shortcomings in the way the process was communicated caused a separate disadvantage.

A Port of Tauranga stevedore was dismissed for medical incapacity after an asthma flare during dusty palm-kernel work. He sought interim reinstatement, arguing there was a serious dispute about the actual exposure risk, his capacity for modified duties and the employer's consideration of alternatives.

Regional sales manager John Pio was made redundant after Strautmann Hopkins lost the distribution licence underpinning its business. The redundancy had a genuine commercial basis, but Pio was given little warning, very limited time to seek advice and no meaningful opportunity to explore transfer or redeployment.

Clive Bryham, a long-serving field operations manager, was dismissed after Omexom alleged he mishandled an 'illegal connection' incident involving a direct report and exposed the business to reputational risk with a key client. He sought interim reinstatement pending final determination of his dismissal and disadvantage grievances.