An order to reinstate a lecturer and pay him $25,000 is a further blow for the credibility of Auckland University's human relations practices, the Association of University Staff (AUS) says.
A decision of the Employment Relations Authority made public this week held that Dr Rangihiiroa Blake Panoho had
been unjustifiably dismissed.
It ordered the university's vice-chancellor to reinstate him and pay him $25,000 compensation.
It said vice-chancellor Professor Stuart McCutcheon had failed to act in good faith towards Dr Panoho when dismissing him on the basis of redundancy. He had failed to act as a good employer and Dr Panoho was treated neither fairly nor sensitively.
Dr Panoho, a specialist in Maori and Pacific Art History, was declared redundant in early 2007.
The authority said it did not accept Dr Panoho's position was superfluous and noted the university was in the largest Polynesian city in the world.
The university said it disagreed with parts of the ruling and was considering an appeal.
AUS deputy secretary Marty Braithwaite said the finding of unjustified dismissal, the second at Auckland this year, was indicative of poor employment-relations practices.
In March the authority ordered the university to pay Dr Paul Buchanan $66,000 in lost wages and damages for his wrongful dismissal, but did not grant him reinstatement.
Dr Buchanan was appealing the decision.
Mr Braithwaite said also of concern in the Dr Panoho decision was the authority concluding that the vice-chancellor's witnesses were "unhelpful, if not deliberately vague", in their recall of matters.
"This is unacceptable anywhere but particularly so in a publicly funded tertiary-education institution," Mr Braithwaite said.
- NZPA
