Pilots want breakfast back

Photo / Herald on Sunday

Pilots are taking Air New Zealand to court to make the company pay for their breakfasts while they are working.

The Air Line Pilots' Association said Air NZ breached a clause in their contracts that says they are entitled to receive a breakfast allowance for a two-pilot flight crew which worked from their home base for less than 11 hours.

The association said that from about July 2009, pilots were not paid breakfast allowances they were entitled to and they should be paid from now on and receive backpay.

It also said that between 2004 and 2009, Air NZ paid for pilots' breakfasts in those circumstances.

However, Air NZ said those payments were an error and the pilots were mistaken about their contracts. The company said it was not required to refund pilots for the amount they spent on breakfasts in those circumstances.

The Pilots' Association took the matter to the Employment Relations Authority, which ruled that the issue needed to be taken to the Employment Court.

ERA member Robin Arthur said in his report that the issue was a confusion of the terms of the contract and said how the terms were understood by a judge would be the final ruling.

"I have not set out the full wording of all the relevant [contract] terms [regarding] meal provision and allowance entitlements. To do so would need some explanation of how they should or may be read together - which is really the interpretation dispute - and would require some commentary on the relative merits of each party's arguments.

"That is now best left for court."

Both parties declined to comment given that the dispute was before the court.