In the first case, a female milker worked on a farm for four years. Throughout this time she had worked on public holidays, but had not taken any alternative holidays. She moved in with the farmer. Married him a couple of years later. The marriage ended. The employment relationship also ended. Over the four years of work, she had worked on 31 public holidays.
The farmer asserted that she was not entitled to alternative holidays and said she had already been paid for them. The milker continued to be paid during April to June every year when the cows were dry.
The Employment Relations Authority held that this could not be classified as payment for alternative holidays. An alternative holiday must be taken on a day that would usually be a working day. During the months of April to June, there is no milking to be undertaken and subsequently, they could not be classified as usual working days. Accordingly, the milker was entitled to payment for 31 days.
In the second case, a remote control operator was employed on a nine week rotating roster. He applied to take an alternative day on a weekend day. The employer denied his application on the grounds that there was no-one to cover the operator on the requested day, and that taking alternative holidays on weekend days resulted in extra cost to the employer.
The operator subsequently found someone who could work on the requested day. The employer still refused, and only allowed the day to be taken off as annual leave, not an alternative holiday.
The Employment Relations Authority found that the employer’s refusal was unlawful and a breach of the Holidays Act. The Authority was satisfied that the operator had fulfilled his statutory requirement to take into account his employer’s views about when alternative holidays should be taken. He had listened to his employer’s concerns about maintaining adequate staff levels in the weekend, but had resolved this issue. The Authority also held that the extra cost to employers was not a consideration that could defeat the plain words of the Holidays Act.
