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Employment Relations Act 2000

Institutions - Judges of the court

201: Seniority

You could also call this:

“How judges rank in order of importance, based on when they were appointed”

When you think about Judges of the court, you might wonder how they decide who is in charge. The Judges, except for the Chief Judge, get their seniority based on when they were appointed as Judges. If two or more Judges were appointed on the same day, they get their seniority from the Governor-General, or if that doesn’t happen, it’s based on the order they took the judicial oath. You also need to know that permanent Judges are considered more senior than acting Judges. The rules about seniority for Judges were changed by the Employment Relations Amendment Act (No 2) 2016, which you can read more about on the Employment Relations Amendment Act (No 2) 2016 page.

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Crime and justice > Courts and legal help Work and jobs > Worker rights

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).