A motel owner has been stung with a $22,000 bill after firing a night manager who he says arrived at work drunk.
Gavin Short was dismissed for serious misconduct in November last year. He recently won an unjustifiable dismissal claim lodged with the Employment Relations Authority in February.
The Wellington man's former employer, Richard Mazur of Resource Holdings, is devastated by the ruling. He must pay $15,000 in reparation, including $6000 for humiliation and six months' lost wages. He will also foot the $1000 Crown penalty and $8000 in legal bills.
According to the Employment Relations Authority report, Short, 51, was dismissed after he arrived for work at Wellington's Airport Motel at 8.10pm on Sunday, November 19 last year "acting oddly, swaying, his eyes unfocused" and with "poor comprehension" and smelling "very strongly of alcohol".
Mazur sent Short home and conducted an investigation. He sent Short a letter of termination dated November 25.
But the authority found Mazur was in breach of his statutory obligation to provide Short with a written employment agreement and the employer's investigation was defective. It ruled Short was unjustifiably dismissed.
"We took this guy off the dole and gave him a job," Mazur said. "His job was to drive people backwards and forwards from the airport and we had no choice but to send him away.
"The court turns around and says you can't dismiss someone because they are prepared to drive drunk. Where does it stop? We had to weigh up public safety and the business' reputation.
"This action cost me a considerable amount of money... It is getting to the point where you are going to need legal advice before you consider dismissing someone."
Mazur said this was a one-off incident and his staff at the motel were responsible about drinking and their work responsibilities.
"Does it get to a point where you march the employee to the doctor for a blood test? The biggest risk to me around the boozy Christmas time is people not coming to work because they are not feeling well."
