Man alleged him not being a member of Brethren Church got him fired

Kevin Hugh David Van der Merwe alleged he was unjustifiably dismissed for redundancy from his job at Glasshape Limited. Photo / iStock

A man alleges he was unjustifiably dismissed from his job at an Auckland glass company because he was not a member of the Brethren Church.

Kevin Hugh David Van der Merwe filed an application about a personal grievance with the Employment Relations Authority, alleging he was unjustifiably dismissed for redundancy from his job at Glasshape Limited.

Mr Van der Merwe said his role was not superflous, there was no consultation before the redundancy decision and he was selected because of his non-membership of the Brethren Church.

Mr Van der Merwe began as production manager for Glasshape in November 2012.

In 2014, there was an increase in production volume resulting in the workload of production manager being too much for one person.

As a result Glasshape Limited engaged the services of consultant Simply Lean Business Solutions, to review positions within the company.

It provided a report suggesting a review of the company's structure by introducing a couple more team leaders and a standardised work procedure for team leaders.

Mr Van der Merwe met with human resources manager Clint Brickhill and managing director Rick Forrest, where changes to his role were discussed.

Following this, Mr Forrest sent a letter to Mr Van der Merwe to start a formal process to consult about his job.

The authority said the tenor of the letter was to start consultation about possible restructuring of his role and or redundancy.

The same day Mr Van der Merwe sought time off because he had arranged interviews with potential employers, and confirmed he would not be not be applying for any new roles that had become available.

He then met with Mr Brickhill and Mr Forrest to discuss redundancy proposal, which had been set out in an earlier letter.

Mr Forrest wrote to Mr Van der Merwe, offering him a new role of factory and production manager, and gave him until August 4 to accept.

The authority said Mr Van der Merwe advised by email on August 4 that it was time for him to move on and he wished the company well.

Mr Forrest then replied advising Mr Van der Merwe his job would end in October, to which Mr Van der Merwe responded he had no option but to resign.

Authority member T G Tetitaha said he did not accept evidence that Mr Van der Merwe was made redundant.

"Having heard the evidence I came to the conclusion the applicant was the one who first raised possible redundancy... and his actions drive that option.

"There is not evidence before me that membership or not of the Brethren Church was a factor which resulted in his selection for redundancy."

Mr Van der Merwe's application for a personal grievance was dismissed.

Costs were reserved.