Rankin entitled to wage arrears from charity
An order has been made for former prominent politician and civil servant Christine Rankin to be paid wage arrears for the time she spent working for a nowderegistered justice reform charity.
Rankin, the former head of the Ministry of Social Development, had been hired by justice reform organisation Transforming Justice Foundation (TJF) by chief executive Scott Guthrie in 2020.
Guthrie was terminated from TJF in January 2021, with the reason given that he’d engaged Rankin as an employee without the knowledge of the board.
In an Employment Relations Authority determination released this week, Rankin was seeking orders for wage and holiday pay arrears, interest, as well as findings of aiding and abetting breach of employment agreement, and liability for default in payment of wages.
The authority earlier found Rankin was employed by the foundation from June 6, 2020.
The March determination stated that Guthrie drafted and proposed the employment agreement to Rankin, and received her personal details necessary to set up payment under that agreement – including her IRD number and bank account.
The authority accepted that Rankin “repeatedly” raised her concerns about non-payment with Guthrie, without any payment being received from TJF. In January 2021, Guthrie paid Rankin $10,000 from his personal bank account, using TJF in the payment details coupled with his name, “purportedly to ameliorate her concerns about non-payment”, it stated.
The authority found Rankin was entitled to be paid under the employment agreement entered with TJF, at the agreed rate of an annual salary of $100,000 a year.
In the recent determination, authority member Marija Urlich said TJF was ordered to pay Rankin wage arrears for the period from July 6, 2020, to January 18, 2021, based on the terms of her employment agreement, which remain unpaid.
On April 8, 2021, TJF was deregistered as a charitable trust with the Charities Commission. TJF said it does not have the funds to meet any arrears award, which Rankin had acknowledged.
Rankin is currently a ward councillor for Taupō.
The arrears orders were made “cognisant of the fact TJF has no assets, no income stream and its operations have been deregistered since April 2021”, the decision stated.
“This is clearly a relevant factor in any discussions Mrs Rankin and TJF have regarding the sum of arrears.”
Urlich said Rankin and TJF must seek to agree on the calculation of arrears of wages and holiday pay owed to Rankin.
If agreement was not reached, Rankin had leave to apply for the authority to determine the arrears of wages and holiday pay.
If TJF failed to pay the owed arrears of wages and holiday pay, Rankin had leave to bring a claim against Guthrie as a person involved, it stated.
Costs were reserved, and the parties were encouraged to “resolve any issue of costs between themselves”.