Extra Funding for Employment Tribunal

Labour Minister Max Bradford today announced an extra $1.031 million in funding over three years for the Employment Tribunal to ensure it can continue to hold hearings in provincial centres.

Mr Bradford said the Tribunal had been forced to limit its services as a result of budgetary pressures.

"These were largely caused by a higher-than-expected increase to Tribunal Member salaries by the Higher Salaries Commission." he said.

"This had the unfortunate effect of reducing the resources the Tribunal had available to it, and limited its ability to hold adjudication and mediation hearings outside of the five centres where the Tribunal is based.

"The additional funding will ensure the Tribunal can maintain its current capacity and restore its previous level of activity in the regions. The result will be that employees and employers continue to have the ability to have their disputes resolved as quickly as possible, whether they live in a main centre or a smaller town."