Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
The Court of Appeal has upheld an employment case that questioned the lawfulness of the Government's powers during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Disability services provider IDEA Services took the government to the High Court earlier this year for a clause in the Epidemic Preparedness Act.
The Act allowed for laws and restrictions to be modified to "enable compliance" during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The modification order was in effect until May this year.
It scrapped the maximum extension period for bargaining in collective employment agreements, which usually is 12 months.
IDEA has been in a bargaining process since October 2020 and have yet to meet a new agreement.
But because of the changes, the 12 month maximum period has reset and the new expirey date for the current agreement is May next year.
IDEA took the government and trade union group E Tū, which represents about a third of its members, to the high court earlier this year.
It unsuccessfully argued the government's powers in this context were out of scope and unlawful.
The Court of Appeal released judgement today, allowing the appeal on the basis that the order was invalid because it modified a law which was out of scope of the government's response.
Both courts agreed the modification order was flawed because it lacked a review provision, but the High Court has still declined the case.
Both courts did however dismiss the appellants arguments that the order was only intended to last for the three-month period of the initial epidemic notice.
