A Maori preschool helper involved in a violent fight at work with her daughter-in-law has failed to win any damages for an unjustified dismissal.
The Employment Relations Authority heard that police were called to Te Kohanga Reo ki Papatoetoe in South Auckland after a fight in which Terehia Rerekura dragged daughter-in-law
Hanita Rerekura into an office by her hair.
A decision to sack Mrs Rerekura was made at a hui that she did not attend because she had been given no notice that her fate would be decided there, and her employer agreed that procedural defects made her dismissal unjustified.
But authority member Dzintra King assessed Mrs Rerekura's contribution to her dismissal at 100 per cent, and refused to award her any compensation.
Mrs Rerekura, who is in her 60s and has had a long history of involvement in the kohanga reo movement, said in evidence that she grabbed her daughter-in-law's hair in self-defence.
She said the younger woman began attacking her physically after intervening in a row she was having with another employee about where the children would sleep.
Dr King said the case was sad but she was persuaded by a number of documented cases that Mrs Rerekura had an anger problem.
The employer had offered her counselling, which she rejected.
Her lawyer had tried to persuade the authority that her anger was justified and the reasons for it important.
But "whether or not the anger was justified is neither here nor there," Dr King said.
"This was an elderly woman in a responsible position in charge of very young children who chose ... to continue with physical violence instead of walking away from the situation."
It was irrelevant who started the fight as both women should have known better.
"For young children to be subjected to the possibility of hearing or seeing those responsible for their care and wellbeing engaged in physical violence is nothing short of shocking - it is clearly reprehensible."
Dr King said both women had brought family issues into the workplace and she was surprised Hanita Rerekura had not been disciplined.
