THE WORKING WEEK.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 51, 28 January 1938, Page 11

THE WORKING WEEK.

A DUNEDIN CASE. Per Press Association. • DUNEDIN, Jan. 27. The acti/i of the Kaikorai Tramway Co., Ltd., in “spreading’ the prescribed 40-hour week over six days without payment of overtime was the subject of a case in the Magistrate’s Court to-day, when the Department of Labour proceeded against the company on behalf of one of its own employees, claiming the sum of £37 10s 4d for overtime pay, covering a period of 39 weeks. Mr G E. Grieve represented the department and Mr A. C. Stephens appeared for the defendant company.

Prior to the introduction of the 40hour week, Mr Grieve said, the men employed by the defendant company were working 48 hours a week, composed of six days of eight hours each. When the Arbitration Court reduced the working hours to 40 it gave the right to employers to work their men on Saturdays without payment of overtime. The defendant company took the view that it was entitled to spread the 40 hours over six days and consequently reduced the working time from Saturday to Monday inclusive to 6 2-3 hours daily. The company’s right to do this was challenged by the union and the matter was referred to the Arbitration Court which in its judgI ment drew' attention to the peculiar wording of the industrial agreement, and stated that 40 hours must be worked in days of eight hours each and that the Court had no power to alter the daily maximum of hours to spread 40 hours over six days in this particular case. Between the time of the introduction of the 40-hour week and the issue of the Court’s ruling in the matter in question 39 weeks had elapsed. The department claimed on behalf of the worker that a- week’s pay should be given for the first five days worked and that a further day’s pay should be made to him for the sixth day. Mr Stephens mentioned that Mr Justice Page had heard the case, but that it was Mr Justice O’Regan who had given the judgment, as he had been appointed to the vacancy after Mr Justice Page’s death. He submitted lengthy legal argument in defence of the company’s action. The Magistrate reserved his decision.