CYF worker fired for slapping his son loses employment appeal

A former Child, Youth and Family (CYF) employee who was dismissed after slapping his son across the face will not get his job back.

The man, known only as Mr A, appealed to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA), claiming he was unjustifiably dismissed and the length of the organisation's dismissal process left him at an unjustifiable disadvantage.

On May 2 last year, Mr A had accompanied his son to a sports tournament, where his son misbehaved on the court.

A talk between Mr A and his son after the match became heated and Mr A slapped his son.

In a letter dated July 14, 2010, CYF told Mr A he would be suspended on full pay after a witness complained they had seen him reprimanding and slapping his son.

The suspension was to be until the conclusion of a disciplinary process.

Mr A was charged by police and appeared in the district court but was discharged without conviction and given permanent name suppression.

The ERA was told that Mr A and his wife had a series of meetings with CYF and the Police's District Child Protection Team (DCPT) which established Mr A regularly hit his children.

CYF then advised Mr A the organisation's preliminary view was that he would be dismissed, and Mr A was invited to a meeting with CYF on September 16.

However on September 14, CYF's general manager of service support moved to a new role and his replacement said she wanted to form her own decision on the matter, which would involve revisiting the disciplinary process.

After consideration, the new general manager told Mr A in a letter dated February 4, 2011, that he was dismissed.

The authority found Mr A was not unjustifiably dismissed from his position at CYF.

While it was unfortunate that the CYF general manager had changed roles just before advising Mr A of the final decision the new general manager's choice to make her own decision was not an unjustifiable disadvantage, the ERA said.

CYF did not seek costs.

- NZPA