KEY POINTS:
New Zealand Steel has been ordered to reinstate a supposedly short-term worker it dismissed after continuously employing him for a year by rolling over his three-month temporary contracts.
The worker, Steven Kolovos, had been told his employment was to expire at the culmination of his fifth three-month contract.
He appealed to the Employment Relations Authority, saying he had been unfairly dismissed.
The authority established Mr Kolovos was in fact a permanent employee of NZ Steel, according to its own collective agreement.
By his leaving date, Mr Kolovos had worked 52 weeks, which under NZ Steel's collective agreement, made him a permanent employee, authority member Leon Robinson said. NZ Steel denied Mr Kolovos had been dismissed, saying his temporary employment had expired.
Mr Kolovos was employed by NZ Steel as a temporary storeman at the company's Glenbrook Mill.
The temporary employment was to cover for "peak workload", and was expected to end within three months as the workload was due to return to normal.
However, the company issued Mr Kolovos with four more of the temporary contracts, all explaining his work would end when the workload returned to normal.
Mr Robinson said it was clear the peak workload related to the multi-million dollar restructuring of the company's warehouse.
" ... I regard this upgrade project as the genuine reason based on reasonable grounds for Mr Kolovos' fixed term employment," Mr Robinson said. The nominated end dates of the three-month contract were "completely at odds" with the projected time frame of the upgrade.
Mr Robinson said he found NZ Steel had nominated the end dates solely because they coincided with the stipulated duration constraints in the company's collective contract.
As a result, Mr Kolovos' contracts did not properly state the reason for the extensions, and he was entitled to challenge his dismissal.
Mr Robinson said the authority found no justification for Mr Kolovos' dismissal, and ordered the company to immediately reinstate him.
The authority also ordered NZ Steel to reimburse him his lost wages, and to pay compensation for hurt and humiliation to the tune of $5000.
- NZPA
