The Employment Court has sanctioned a company that has ignored an order to pay a former employee more than $36,000. Photo/123rf
The Employment Court has sanctioned a company that has ignored an order to pay a former employee more than $36,000. Photo/123rf
A company "deliberately and wilfully" flouting orders to pay a Christchurch truck driver more than $36,000 following a dispute has now been sanctioned and risks losing its property if it doesn't cough up the money.
Time is ticking for Star Nelson Holdings to pay former employee Murray Cousens after the company failed to pass on to him the Covid-19 wage subsidy.
In a judgement made on February 24, the Employment Court gave Star Nelson Holdings one month to comply with an order made by the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) to pay Cousens $25,000 compensation, $6131.12 in lost wages, a penalty award of $2000 and $3000 in costs.
Subsequently, the court also sanctioned the company by way of a $10,000 fine, of which $6000 is payable to Cousens.
He was also awarded a further $3000 in costs and given leave to apply for further sanctions, such as the ability to seek sequestration of the company's property, if it continues to defy the order, meaning Cousens is now due more than $45,000.
Cousens has been battling Star Nelson Holdings for nearly two years after he left his job due to a dispute with the company over its failure to pay him the Covid-19 subsidy.
Star Nelson Holdings is a Nelson-based management consultancy service that operates to pay employees engaged by its director Stuart Biggs' other registered companies – furniture removal company Star Moving Limited, which has branches in Nelson, Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland, and Auckland trucking firm Scott Haulage Limited.
Throughout the ERA and Employment Court proceedings, Biggs did not attend any hearings, did not make any submissions and had very limited communication with the authorities.
Cousens made an application to the ERA in July 2020 claiming an unjustified dismissal and unjustified disadvantage.
Although he had never received a written contract, the authority heard he had worked full-time as a driver/packer with the company for six months until he left in May 2020.
The former employee had to rely on emergency funding from Work and Income because the company would not pay him the Covid-19 wage subsidy it had applied for on his behalf. Photo/File
During the nationwide level 4 lockdown, he had to rely on emergency funding from Work and Income because the company wouldn't pay him the subsidy it had applied for on his behalf.
When Cousens queried this with management, he was asked to sign an illegal zero-hour contract backdated to his first day at the company in November 2019.
He was told he would get a full-time employee's contract after Covid-19 restrictions were lifted.
When Cousens refused to sign the agreement, Star Nelson's regional manager told him the company could not have him on the premises as it would leave them uninsured and suggested he take the week off.
Upset by the way he had been treated, he then resigned.
Star Nelson Holding received $260,000 through the Government's wage subsidy for 37 workers and claimed Cousens had not been paid the subsidy because he was a casual worker.
While Cousens believed he was a full-time permanent employee, his pay slip said he was paid on a "pay as you go" arrangement instead of entitlement to paid leave, like a casual worker.
But without a written employment contract, the authority said the relationship was not clear-cut because Cousens was regularly offered a 40-hour work week, unlike a casual agreement.
The authority found his employment was that of a full-time worker.
In February 2021, it ruled Star Nelson Holdings failed to act as a fair and reasonable employer and that Cousens had been unjustifiably dismissed and unjustifiably disadvantaged.
A total of $36,131.12 was awarded in favour of Cousens.
But by July 2021, he hadn't received any of the money and Cousens, who was distressed and suffering financial difficulties, returned to the ERA seeking a compliance order.
The authority found that despite attempts from Cousens to obtain the money, Star Nelson Holdings had not made any effort to pay him.
It ordered the company to pay Cousens within 14 days.
However, more than seven months on, he had still not received any money and applied to the Employment Court for sanctions to be imposed on the company for its failure to comply with the ERA order.
In his decision, Judge Kerry Smith said the company's behaviour had been deliberate and willful.
The impact on Cousens was considerable, Judge Smith said.
"He has been forced to borrow money to meet his living expenses; pay bills and pay for groceries," he said.
"[Cousens] said, and I accept, that not being paid by the company has caused him considerable financial difficulty, personal anxiety and distress."
The company now has until March 24 to stump up the $36,131.12 under the ERA order, or further sanctions may be imposed, but Biggs said today that he would be appealing the decision as he felt the Employment Court had not given him adequate time to respond to the proceedings.
