Employment Court of New Zealand Te Kōti Take Mahi o Aotearoa

[2025] NZEmpC 82 A Labour Inspector of MBIE v Dao (Judgment (No 2) of Judge Beck, 17 April 2025) FREEZING ORDERS – VARIATION – application to vary freezing orders – some business bank accounts unfrozen – conditions placed on the unfreezing of some business bank acounts – family trust account not unfrozen – mortgage repayments can be facilitated without removing trust account from freezing order – new bank account to be set up for the purposes of receiving and paying ordinary living expenses and legal expenses

[2025] NZEmpC 80  AJY v Chief Executive of the Department of Corrections (Judgment (No 2) of Judge Beck, 15 April 2025) CLARIFICATION OF REMEDIES – LOSS OF BENEFIT – claim by employee that they were entitled to retirement leave – employee could have requested retirement leave – employee could have been required to retire on medical grounds – insufficient evidence to find that employee might reasonably have been expected to obtain retirement leave but for unjustified dismissal

[2025] NZEmpC 78 Wilson Parking New Zealand Ltd v Turner & Anor (Judgment (No 2) of Chief Judge Inglis, 15 April 2025) APPLICATION TO AMEND METHODOLOGY OF SEARCH ORDERS – granted by consent

[2025] NZEmpC 76 Vegepod NZ Ltd v Lowe (Judgment of Chief Judge Inglis, 14 April 2025)APPLICATION FOR INTERIM REINSTATEMENT - dismissal arguably unjustifiable procedurally and substantively - relationship difficulties can be managed - insufficient evidence of misconduct and it is strongly refuted - balance of convenience favours reinstatement - reinstatement is sought for unusual reasons, but they do not tell against the appropriateness of the order - application granted

[2025] NZEmpC 74 Locke v Rishworth Aviation Asia Pacific Limited (Interlocutory judgment (No 2) of Judge Beck, 10 April 2025) APPEARANCE UNDER PROTEST – APPLICATION TO SET ASIDE APPEARANCE – JURISDICTION – FORUM NON CONVENIENS – plaintiff has applied to join foreign airline – foreign airline served in New Zealand – foreign airline appeared under protest to jurisdiction – application to set aside appearance under protest – Court has jurisdiction to hear application as foreign airline served in New Zealand – proper process to challenge forum is to apply for a stay or strike out – appearance under protest set aside

(Judgment of Judge Kathryn Beck, 4 April 2025) STRIKE-OUT – DELAY – challenge stayed for almost two years due to unpaid security costs – insufficient explanation for delay to pay security – prejudice caused to defendant – plaintiffs consent to matter being dismissed if no costs ordered against them – challenge dismissed

[2025] NZEmpC 69  Bread of Life Christian Church in Auckland v Chen (Judgment of Judge Kathryn Beck, 4 April 2025) STATUS OF WORKER – MINISTER OF RELIGION – IDENTITY OF EMPLOYER – LOST REMUNERATION – REINSTATEMENT – minister of religion became senior pastor of church – trust board of church split and dismissed minister – Authority ordered reinstatement – trust board dismissed minister again for redundancy – dispute over control of trust board being resolved in High Court – starting point to consider parties’ mutual rights and obligations – religious organisations differ from each other – there is no presumption against minister of religion intending to be legally bound – the Court is reluctant to resolve doctrinal disputes – the spiritual nature of a role is not determinative but is relevant – parties intended to be legally bound – parties’ relationship transcended but did not exclude legal relationship – parties’ intended for relationship to be employment relationship – no relevant in…

[2025] NZEmpC 67 Singh v Chand (judgment of Judge Holden 3 April 2025) URGENCY – not required by nature of proceedings – application dismissed

[2025] NZEmpC 65 Rural Practice Limited and Abdul-Jabbar v A Labour Inspector of the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (Judgment of Judge Holden 3 April 2025) APPLICATION TO EXPAND SCOPE OF PROCEEDINGS – no basis to change the issue previously agreed on by the parties – LEAVE TO FILE FURTHER EVIDENCE – proposed evidence not relevant to the issue – applications declined

[2025] NZEmpC 63 A Labour Inspector of the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment v JDFoods Ltd (Judgment of Judge Holden 1 April 2025) CONSENT – freezing order discharged by consent

[2025] NZEmpC 60 Courage & Ors-Pilgrim & Ors v Attorney-General & Ors (Interlocutory Judgment of Chief Judge Inglis, 1 April 2025) APPLICATION FOR STAY - Court has exclusive jurisdiction for judicial review of Labour Inspector - position will not change on appeal - while judicial review may be unnecessary depending on result of appeal, the plaintiffs wish to proceed with judicial review - balance of convenience points against stay - application declined

[2025] NZEmpC 58 Very Nice Productions Limited v Ormond (Costs Judgment of Judge M S King, 26 March 2025)COSTS – costs following discontinuance – scale costs awarded – costs on costs awarded

[2025] NZEmpC 56 Secretary for Education v Public Service Association (Judgment of Judge Holden, 24 March 2025) COSTS – application opposed on basis that proceedings concerned a poorly drafted collective agreement and there was broader benefit in resolving dispute – parties previously agreed to scale costs – costs awarded with modest reduction to recognise nature of proceedings