Care worker allegedly made elderly man feel 'unsafe, neglected and scared'

A care worker was sacked when a frail and elderly man she looked after claimed he felt "unsafe, neglected and scared" by her. Photo / Getty Images

A care worker with almost 30 years' experience was sacked when a frail and elderly man she looked after claimed he felt "unsafe, neglected and scared" by her.

The man says the worker, Tuahine Hansen, would order him to make her cups of tea and do housework.

Mrs Hansen claims the complaints were untrue and the man and his housemate were coerced into making her look bad.

She argued she was unjustifiably dismissed and sought compensation for lost wages, hurt and humiliation.

But in a decision released this week, the Employment Relations Authority has upheld Mrs Hansen's dismissal from her role as a community support worker for Idea Services.

She had worked for the service for nine years and for IHC for 19 years before that.

For the 15 year until her sacking last year, Mrs Hansen provided support to two people in a Whanganui home, owned by the man who made the complaints and referred to by the authority as Mr A.

"The allegations made by Mr A, who was described by [Ideas Services] as frail and elderly, were that he felt unsafe, neglected and scared at times due to his treatment from Mrs Hansen," the authority decision says.

"Specific allegations he had made were that Mrs Hansen sat on the couch and called him out of his room to make her cups of tea, that she made him do housework which he found very difficult, and that he was scared to ask her to hang the sheets out. If he did she had a 'go' at him."

When her employer investigated, Mrs Hansen accused another support worker who did shifts at the house of coercing Mr A and the other man who lived there into making her look bad.

She denied other allegations against her although she accepted they would warrant dismissal, if true.

The other worker, Heather McDonnell, said she'd known for a couple of years something wasn't right at the house and Mr A was initially reluctant to talk about his problems with Mrs Hansen.

Mrs Hansen, whose employment file showed evidence of warnings and performance issues, was dismissed.

After a hearing in Wellington earlier this month, authority member Trish McKinnon upheld that decision.

Mrs Hansen's representative Alaska Dobbs questioned the adequacy of Idea Services' probe and said there were dangers in relying on statements made by "vulnerable people who were easily influenced".

But Ms McKinnon was satisfied Idea Services carried out a "comprehensive and fair" investigation.