The Tribunal ordered the worker to pay the employer's costs thrown away between 21 November 2025 and 2 December 2025 as a consequence of the adjournment of the hearing, and the employer's costs of the related directions hearings, to be taxed if not agreed; the worker's cross-application for costs was dismissed. Although the ordinary approach is that costs thrown away by an adjournment are borne by the party seeking it, the Tribunal departed from that approach where the adjournment was necessitated by the opposing party's own actions — here, the worker's initiation of Supreme Court appeals that created a risk of inconsistent decisions. The decision confirms that under s 59(1) of the WRC Act the Tribunal retains a wide and unfettered discretion on costs, and that a party who opposes a reasonable adjournment application caused by its own parallel proceedings may be ordered to bear the other side's wasted costs.
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