IMPORTANT JUDGMENT

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 125, 12 June 1937, Page 15

IMPORTANT JUDGMENT

PrecB Association. )

Effect of Finance Act on Wages

(By Telegraph—

AUCKLAND, Last Nigikt. A reserved judgment of wide effect•upcra master carriers, and stated to involve the payment of from £15,000 to £20,000 in back wages to employees, was given by Mr. F. H. Levien, S.M., -in the Pukekohe Magistrate's Cotfrt. jHe awarded £1 and costs against P. H, jLapwood, a carrier, of Tuakau, on a i claim for a penalty brought by the : Auckland Drivers' Union. The facts admitted were that the award rates of pay in f orce in 1931 had I not been paid by -defendant to his 1 drivers since the coming into operation ;on July 1 of the Finance Act, 1936, which restored salary and wages cuts, .prescribing the 1931 lev91. The award in force in 1931 was made in 1926, but, , j although defendant was in business before 1926, he was not made a party j to it. This award was cancelled on 1 February 1, 1933. A new award was made last December, but defendant was still not a party to it, although he had since been cited in a supplementary citation. He had never operated underi the award. The Magistrate held that Sectiou 16 of the Finance Act was cmnprefliensive j in its application and placed on all' employers engaged in the carryingi industry the obligation of paying the rates of wages laid dovm by the award in force in 1931, irrespective of whether they were parties to that award.