Anti-harassment campaigner fights to keep Starship job

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

A senior Starship children's hospital nurse is fighting for his job after being demoted for spreading allegations of bullying and sexual harassment.

The Auckland District Health Board demoted former charge nurse Shayne Rasmussen after doctors sought legal advice over letters he sent to the homes of staff under his supervision, triggered by what he called "a cowardly and destructive sexual harassment".

Mr Rasmussen has been transferred to a staff nurse position outside the hospital and has lost the first round - before the Employment Relations Authority - of a bid for reinstatement.

But the Nurses Organisation, which is advising him not to compound his predicament by discussing the case publicly, said yesterday that it would support him in a likely appeal to the Employment Court.

His letters did not disclose details of the alleged harassment or the identities of those involved, a specialist and a nurse.

These have been suppressed, in any case, by employment authority member Janet Scott.

The letters alleged that bullying at the hospital was not isolated and called on staff to let Mr Rasmussen know if they were victims of similar behaviour, so it could be eradicated.

Mr Rasmussen had alleged that there were some outpatient clinics which clerical staff and nurses refused to attend for fear of being abused or bullied.

The health board yesterday denied this claim.

Mr Rasmussen wrote of a need "to normalise professional and humane interactions within the team".

"If there is any closing of the ranks it must be to isolate the perpetrators of behaviours which have no place in any workplace - and certainly not within Starship children's hospital."

Ms Scott said in her decision that her role was not to judge whether Mr Rasmussen lost his job for standing up to bullying, but whether the health board's actions were those of a fair and reasonable employer.

She was satisfied they were, after Mr Rasmussen denounced the incident in question without investigating it in "inflammatory terms" which she said bore little relationship to what was described in evidence.

Hospital managers testified that the specialist in question had apologised by the time Mr Rasmussen reacted, and that Mr Rasmussen had caused the victim even greater stress by raising the incident with staff in the absence of a formal complaint from her.

Ms Scott accepted he did not deliberately set out to hurt his employer, but said his actions demonstrated a lack of judgment and insight amounting to unacceptable conduct in a manager at his level, causing loss of trust and confidence in him.

She said her decision did not detract from her belief that Mr Rasmussen was an excellent nurse and a supportive colleague, and she was confident he would move on to become an excellent nurse leader.

She described his assurance to staff that they would be supported in coming forward to complain of inappropriate behaviour as "good stuff when properly communicated".

And she urged the health board to "look carefully at the incidence of workplace behaviours that are rude, dismissive or capable of being viewed as abusive or bullying".

She said such behaviour might by its very nature be somewhat invisible to managers less likely to be at the receiving end.

Health board spokeswoman Brenda Saunders strongly denied that bullying was a problem at Starship but said the board had revised its policies and was printing new informational material in light of the Rasmussen case.

This was to ensure all staff knew what constituted harassment.