Labour Minister Kate Wilkinson has distanced herself from speculation the Government has plans to change the Minimum Wage Act if a Court of Appeal decision, expected this month, finds against the practice of "averaging".
Labour Party labour spokeswoman Darien Fenton suggests the Government has a Bill "ready to go" on the issue.
Ms Wilkinson's office said Labour liked to suggest a lot of things, "but the Government is waiting to see what comes of the court case".
A year-old Department of Labour paper to Ms Wilkinson on the case, notes that it is an accepted convention that Government does not legislate while a case is still going through a court process.
"However, there can be circumstances where legislation is considered appropriate."
Ms Wilkinson's office advised yesterday the minister would not be asked to speculate over what such circumstances might be, even in a general sense, reminding the Otago Daily Times that in the Dickson case, Ms Wilkinson was on record as saying the Government was waiting to see the result.
The case involves Idea Services (an IHC service) community house worker Phillip William Dickson's bid to be paid at least the minimum hourly wage rate for each hour of his sleepover shifts rather than a $34 allowance for the shift.
The Ministry of Health has estimated that total backpay for all similar workers, if the case goes in Mr Dickson's favour, could be $500 million.
Service and Food Workers Union national secretary John Ryall said the union was waiting to see what the court decided, and then would be "urging the Government to talk to us".
The union was confident about the justice of its case, but it was "very difficult to predict what a court will come out with".
He agreed that whatever the court found, there was a possibility that either party might pursue a further appeal to the Supreme Court.
If the court found in favour of Mr Dickson, it could be part of the Government's election-year strategy to appeal further, because it would mean it could put off resolving the issue, possibly until the end of the year, he said.
He was disappointed that there had not been a collaborative approach taken by the Government to date and was looking forward to the time when the union would be able to "sit around the table with the other stake-holders to get a solution".
Ms Fenton agreed the issue would be an expensive one to resolve, no matter who was in Government, but Labour would have found a way to fund it.
"It's an issue which has been around for a long time. The chickens have come home to roost".
There have been two main aspects to the case, whether sleepovers should be regarded as work under the Minimum Wage Act and whether the requirements of the Act are met if the total pay over a pay period is averaged out to give an hourly rate equal to the minimum wage.
In Mr Dickson's case, he worked some waking hours at an hourly rate higher than the minimum wage and it was argued by Idea Services that if this, plus his sleepover rate, was averaged out over a full pay period, that would meet the minimum wage requirements.
The Service and Food Workers Union, however, argued that each hour of work had to be paid at the minimum wage rate and that sleepover time was work attracting the minimum hourly rate.
An Employment Relations Authority determination and two Employment Court judgements found in favour of Mr Dickson, although Judge Barrie Travis had a dissenting view on the averaging issue in the Employment Court.
The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions has already expressed its concern to Ms Wilkinson on the possibility of any law change which would permit averaging, saying such a change would have serious repercussions for the lowest paid workers and would seriously undermine their earnings.
