The Employment Court has awarded penalties of $12,000
against the director of an employer that has gone into liquidation. The Labour Inspector was bringing a claim
against the employer for unpaid wages and shortly before the hearing two
employee witnesses were visited by apparent gang members with threats that they
should withdraw their accusations and not attend the Employment Relations
Authority hearings.
The Employment Court was satisfied that the director of
the company arranged for the threats to be made by the gang members and imposed
the penalties on the director personally to deter them and others from such
behaviour which was an obstruction of justice.
The Police in this case had declined to prosecute due to the difficulty
of proving that the employer was behind the threats beyond reasonable
doubt. However, in the Employment Court
the standard required was only on the balance of probabilities and was
therefore easier for the Labour Inspector to prove.
Alan
Knowsley
Employment
Lawyer Wellington
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