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Employment Relations Act 2000

Institutions - Judges of the court

201: Seniority

You could also call this:

“This explains how judges are ranked based on when they were appointed and if they are permanent or temporary.”

When it comes to judges in the Employment Court, there’s a way to figure out who’s more senior. This is important because seniority can affect how things work in the court.

First, most judges are ranked by when they became judges. The one who’s been a judge the longest is the most senior. But this doesn’t include the Chief Judge, who has a special position.

Sometimes, two or more judges might have started on the same day. In this case, the Governor-General (that’s like the Queen’s representative in New Zealand) can decide who’s more senior. If the Governor-General doesn’t do this, then it’s based on who took their judge’s oath first.

There’s one more important thing to know. Permanent judges are always considered more senior than acting judges, no matter when they started.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM61404.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Courts and legal help
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200A: Judges act on full-time basis but may be authorised to act part-time, or

“Judges usually work full-time, but can sometimes work part-time if the Attorney-General says it's okay.”

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202: Senior Judge to act as Chief Judge in certain circumstances, or

“When the Chief Judge is away or can't work, the oldest judge takes over and does the Chief Judge's job.”

Part 10 Institutions
Judges of the court

201Seniority

  1. Subject to subsections (2) and (3), the Judges of the court other than the Chief Judge have seniority among themselves according to the dates of their appointments as Judges of the court.

  2. If 2 or more of them are both appointed on the same day, they have seniority according to the precedence assigned to them by the Governor-General or, failing any such assignment, according to the order in which they take the judicial oath.

  3. Every permanent Judge has seniority over every acting Judge.

Compare
  • 1991 No 22 s 113(7)
Notes
  • Section 201(3): amended, on , by section 10 of the Employment Relations Amendment Act (No 2) 2016 (2016 No 62).