DHB back to court in pay dispute

The ‘‘wider implications’’ of a potentially precedent-setting pay deal has pushed the South Canterbury District Health Board (SCDHB) back to court for a third time.

On Wednesday, SCDHB director organisational capability and safety Robbie Moginie confirmed the board would appeal a ruling from the Employment Court that a group of six anaesthetic technicians should be paid for all of an on-call overtime shift.

The health board had opposed better pay for the technicians at a hearing of the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) and at the Employment Court.

Both times the case had gone in favour of the technicians, in a legal process the SCDHB confirmed yesterday had so far cost $49,000.

Moginie said the health board was ‘‘applying for leave to appeal the decision on the basis that the decision is an incorrect application of the law’’.

‘‘The decision to appeal has been made by the DHB but with due consideration for implications wider than the SCDHB.’’

He confirmed the health board was set to use the same specialist employment lawyer, Susan Hornsby-Geluk, as it had for its appeal to the Employment Court.

Yesterday, Moginie said the SCDHB would only be liable for a portion of the final legal costs due to a national agreement between health boards ‘‘to support the legal case for the DHBs and associated costs for this process’’.

Whether the new appeal would be covered by that agreement ‘‘was yet to be confirmed, although the costs for the next stage are relatively small’’.