Police backpay could hit $4m

Police officers will seek millions of dollars in backpay after the Employment Court ruled that their collective contract fails to meet the requirements of new laws covering work on public holidays.

The 2003 collective employment agreement did not satisfy transitional provisions of the 2003 Holidays Act, which came into effect in April last year, the Employment Court said in its reserved decision issued yesterday.

Under the agreement, 7377 sworn and 1778 non-sworn members of the Police Association are paid comprehensive salaries that include allowances, loadings and penal rates amounting to more than 30 per cent of their income.

Association advocate Greg Fleming said yesterday the union and police management did not dispute that public holiday rates were paid in police salaries.

"Whilst there is a component, it has been eroded over a period of time to the extent that it cannot now be quantified."

Changes to the structure of police pay meant that a public holiday rate which was identifiable in 1990 could no longer be isolated, Mr Fleming said.

The association would now expect officers to be paid time-and-a-half for public holidays, plus time off in lieu of hours worked or spent on standby.

"We will be looking to sit down with police management and finalise these changes as soon as possible."

Officers who had worked on public holidays since the act came into force would be seeking compensation pay of time-and-a-half, said Mr Fleming.

"At the upper end it could be close to $4 million a year - it may be less than that."

The Office of the Police Commissioner had received the court decision, spokeswoman Sarah Martin confirmed yesterday.

"We're reviewing our options," she said.

The 2003 Holiday Act made special mention that government agencies, including police and the Fire Service, were consulted in the drafting of the bill.

An explanatory note to the bill said both agencies had suggested amendments to specially recognise the fact that they had previously incorporated public holiday penal rates into their employees' regular pay.

- NZPA