Tauranga SPCA has won an employment case against former manager John Esdaile, who claimed he was the victim of constructive dismissal and wanted compensation for loss of wages and emotional stress.
The two sides went head-to-head at an Employment Relations Authority hearing at Bethlehem Motor Inn in April. Authority member Ken Anderson has now released the decision in favour of the SPCA.
Mr Esdaile, a former police inspector, was employed as manager of the Greerton animal shelter in September 2008 and resigned during a heated committee meeting in March last year.
But he claimed the resignation was constructive dismissal where a breach of duty by his employer led to his resignation.
In a 24-page determination, Mr Anderson found Mr Esdaile's resignation was not brought about by a breach of duty by Tauranga SPCA and there was no constructive dismissal.
He also considered whether Mr Esdaile was disadvantaged in his employment by an unjustified action by his employer and/or whether there was a breach of good faith.
Mr Anderson found any possible disadvantage to Mr Esdaile's future employment was negated by his resignation.
He found there was possibly a breach of faith in regard to former Tauranga SPCA chairperson Edward Goodwin, who was "less than responsible and communicative in some of his contact with Mr Esdaile".
But Mr Anderson said he did not find this to be deliberate, serious or sustained to the extent that a penalty was appropriate.
Mr Anderson invited the two parties to resolve the matter of costs if they could.
If not, Tauranga SPCA has 28 days to file and serve submissions with the ERA. Mr Esdaile then has a further 14 days to file and serve submissions.
Acting Tauranga SPCA chairperson Anita Timms told the Bay of Plenty Times she was aware the case had generated uncertainty in the Western Bay community and resulted in some financial support for the Greerton shelter being withdrawn.
"We know that this process has hurt the SPCA but we were unable to jeopardise this process by making comment earlier. We just really want to reassure people that support the SPCA that the money that they give us is used to benefit the animals," she said.
The SPCA committee was "delighted" with the outcome of the ERA decision, she said.
Ms Timms said Tauranga lawyer Kim Stretton, who acted on behalf of Tauranga SPCA, had charged the charity a discounted fee but the legal costs would be discussed at the next committee meeting.
"I would suspect that there would be an attempt to recoup those costs because that's money that people have donated for animals and not lawyer's fees," she said.
Ms Timms said she and Mr Esdaile had worked well together and she acknowledged the work he had done in his 18 months at the shelter, particularly when it came to capitalising on the enormous goodwill towards the SPCA amongst the community.
"He definitely took things to another level," she said.
Ms Timms said there were new initiatives under way at Tauranga SPCA and it was good to be able to put the case behind them.
She said a site was being cleared for a new building on the Alach St site.
"That's been a number of years in the planning. We know it's been a long wait for people and people were wondering if it was even going to go ahead," she said.
The Bay of Plenty Times understands Mr Esdaile has since relocated to the South Island and he could not be reached yesterday for comment.