Anyone thinking employment law is a bit of a dry, stuffy old affair need only take in some of the headline grabbers of the past few months to realise just how heated – and public – the fallout from workplace relations-gone-sour can become.
I read some jaw-dropping stats on a news site recently. Surely, surely they can’t be that high, I mused. I headed straight to the website of the statistical source, Statistics New Zealand, and, sure enough, the rate of injury-based claims to ACC from our high-risk sectors – forestry, agriculture and fishing – was more than sobering.
A North Island egg farmer’s free range egg scam has been well and truly cracked by authorities in a case that serves as a stiff warning to all traders that flouting consumer laws is a risky business indeed. Around 200,000 customers and 38 retailers were duped in the rort, in which the farmer labelled more than 206,000 dozen cage eggs as free range, and, by Commerce Commission estimates, pocketed an extra $375,000 for his deception.
On an almost daily basis we read about employment issues that have ended up in litigation, costing those concerned huge sums of money, not to mention ill-feeling and stress. If you’re an employer, it pays to know about your obligations when it comes to hiring, firing and employee relations.
Having access to water makes a big difference to the value of farm land. Water permits can be essential to a farm or vineyard’s operations. Water permits can therefore be extremely valuable, and when buying a property it is important to make sure there is a valid water permit in place and that it can be transferred.
In June, the High Court awarded exemplary damages against a lessee who had breached the terms of its pastoral lease, but what are “exemplary damages”? The case involved a company owned by John and Mary Lee. The company was the lessee under a pastoral lease of land in Cardrona Valley. Next door was a freehold property (“Waiorau”) owned by John and Mary Lee, on which they operated snow related businesses.
