SHOPS AND OFFICES ACT.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 December 1920, Page 5

SHOPS AND OFFICES ACT.

RECENT AMENDMENTS. Under the amendment passed last set* sion, and which comes into operation on January 1, 1921, there are several poinfar which affect shopkeepers and shop a*sistants, and the following is a britf summary of the alterations and their effect: , ,

It haa, in the past, been permisßitffi under section 5 of the principal Act -pi shopkeepers to employ assistants on twi; late nights during -Christmas and Nmr Year weeks, but this section has betarepealed and substituted by section 2 it the amendment, which permits only.one late night and limits the hour of ceasing work to ten o'clock, instead of eleven o'clock as previously provided. SuJ»section 2 of section 2 of the amendment permits shopkeepers to keep their shops open and to employ their assistants till nine o'clock on the Thursday night immediately preceding Good Friday, and provides that if any shop as-: jsistant works in excess of the ordinary prescribed hours for any day, or in the seven days immediately previous to Good i Friday, such assistant shall not be 'emv ployed on the Saturday immediately following Good Friday. 'Therefore an einployer desiring to work his assistants on Easter Saturday would have to gire them a half-bolide, v on the Thursday ■ immediately preceding Good Friday Section li (,'l) as amended by section 4 prescribes that the. number' of hours': overtime that may be worked by an assistant shall nut exceed 120 hours' in a year. Instead of securing the permit before working assistants, shopkeepers will-be-wqni»e«l-to-gitVe'\VTit-4fn-"i)o'iiffi jiV ["*»*' inspector within twenty-four hours of overtime being worked." The rate of payment for overtime remains the same except that it will not bo obligatory fur nu employer to pa | overtime to an assistant who is the head of a department of a shop. In addi'.ion' to the payment for overtime, it is pro-' vided that Is (id tea money shall be paid to assistants for every d.iy bit which they are required to work overtime. J

The hours of employment were. ,"i2 per week, but under sub-section (u) of sec--1 tion 3 this has been amended and a week's work is not to exceed 4S hours. The daily limit of nine hours remains, and this permits a shopkeeper to work his assistants nine hours, if lm so desires, on busy days and reduce the-hours on slack days, providing he does not exceed the weekly limit of 48 hours. It also requires'by the repealing of paragraphs (a) and (b) of section .19 of the principal Act that every shop assistant must receive the statutory halfholiday, notwithstanding the observance of one of the special days under section 19, and, as before, no overtime may be worked on the statutory half-holiday. Section 7 of the amendment makes it an offence for any shopkeeper, including an hotel or a restaurant keeper, to sell or deliver any goods the sale of which is comprised in the principal business of the occupier of any other shop in file same district wty-le such last-named shop is required to be closed pursuant to a requisition. Provided that an hotel keeper or a restaurant keeper may at' any time sell tobacco, cigars or cigarettes to lodgers in the hotel or restaurant. It will therefore be an offence for a restaurant keeper to sell cigarettes, etc., to any person other than a lodger in his restaurant when tobacconists' shops are closed in accordance with a requisition.

Section 9 of the amendment gives power to the Arbitration Court (which is merely a little more than a repetition of the jurisdiction of the Court) to fix the hours of closing on working days of all shops in the industry to which the award relates in any industrial district in which the award has elfect, or in any part irrespective of whether assistants are employed in those shops, provided that on application of any shopkeeper the Court may exempt his shop. It may also fix the maximum weekly or daily hours of employment, the holidays and the wages, including overtime, to be paid to shop assistants. Presided in every case that they shall not fix less wages or more hours, or extend the time of -dosing as prescribed in the Shops and Offices Act.

Section 11 makes it compulsory* for all shops in New Plymouth except bak-. ers, butchers, chemists, confectioners, dairy produce sellers, fishmongers, floristp, fruiterers, hairdressers, news agents, pork butchers and tobacconists, to close their shops from the hour of six o'clock in the evening on four working days of the week other than the day of the half-holiday, and not later than nine o'clock on one working day of th c week, which, for New Plymouth, will be Saturday night.

In addition to an employer's liability in respect to breaches, section II) ;u' the amendment makes a shop assistant who is employed in breach of this A,t lv !>!,>, and such assistant commit* an »;V iic.» and is liable to a fine 01 ,>:."> !',. v ~',,; | . such offence. * ''