KEY POINTS:
Two former Waipa Youth and Whanau Trust workers were unfairly suspended and dismissed from their jobs, the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) has ruled.
But ERA did not find the aggrieved pair blameless, docking a large part of the thousands of dollars it ordered their former employers to pay
them on the basis they spent many hours of work time on their personal sporting activities.
Michelle Ryan and Tracey Paekau claimed they were unjustifiably suspended and dismissed from the Trust and sought lost remuneration, compensation of $20,000 each and costs of $8,344.50 each.
Both the employees were suspended for alleged serious misconduct and were then dismissed following an investigation by the Trust.
Ms Ryan was employed as manager/counsellor with a salary of $32,000 while Ms Paekau was employed as an administrator and worked 20 hours a week at $14 an hour.
The Trust said from mid-2005, the board became concerned over Ms Ryan's management of the counselling unit.
ERA said that among other things, the Trust in its investigations found:
* Ms Ryan and Ms Paekau had been insubordinate and dishonest;
* They had followed personal sporting activities rather than work, even though that had been expressly forbidden;
* They had used work time to apply for funding for their personal interests;
* Phone cards, postage, and petrol purchases had been excessive and misappropriated;
* Documents had been falsified and contracts had been suspiciously altered;
* A general refusal to co-operate ;
* Virtually no trust work was carried out on some days or weeks;
But ERA said the process the Trust followed in coming to those conclusions was deficient.
The Trust had not established the immediate suspension of the pair was justified and it ought to have consulted the employees before making the decision.
As for dismissals, the entire process was dogged by bias and predetermination.
In particular, the Trust did not tell Ms Ryan and Ms Paekau about the specific concerns they had about their conduct and did not allow them the opportunity to explain or deny the allegations.
ERA directed the Trust pay Ms Ryan $2500 for her suspension but made no award for lost remuneration because "had the board carried out a fair investigation it would have reached the finding that there was serious misconduct on Ms Ryan's part justifying her dismissal".
But to remedy a "significant negative effect on Ms Ryan to have had her conduct unjustifiably labelled as 'fraudulent"' ERA awarded her $10,000.
Ms Paekau was awarded $3500 for the suspension of her employment and ERA said her dismissal was "completely unfounded".
The Trust was directed to pay Ms Paekau three months' lost pay less 25 per cent to reflect the excessive work time she spent on personal sporting activities.
Ms Ryan and Ms Paekau were awarded costs of $10,000 in total.
- NZPA