The contract said 28 days. The text message said something very different
A seafarer cook says he was promised years of work. He got 28 days.
The New Zealand Employment Relations Authority has found that a maritime cook was a permanent employee - not a casual one - despite signing a casual employment agreement for a single 28-day voyage.
The determination, issued on October 20, 2026, turned not on what the contract said, but on what the employer said before the worker signed it.
The worker was an experienced cook who learned that Kingston Offshore Services Limited (KOS) was hiring for a vessel operating under contract for an overseas company. He discussed the opportunity with the company's general manager, who told him the work was expected to last three to five years.
That mattered. He already had permanent employment elsewhere. He was not, as he put it to the Authority, interested in leaving a permanent job for a single casual voyage of 28 days. He had retirement planning and mortgage obligations to think about.
So he checked. He sent the general manager a text, asking directly whether the contract was for around two years. He was upfront: he did not want short-term work.
The reply left little room for doubt. Three years, the general manager texted back, expected to extend to five. The client wanted to bring in more vessels. A growing industry.
With that assurance in hand, the worker signed the casual employment agreement and started on the vessel for a 28-day period.
He...
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