‘Physical contact’ complaint against ACC boss seconded to Health NZ

ACC says it is unable to provide further details about John Bennett’s physical contact with co-workers as the complaint is an employment-related matter. Photo / RNZ

By Lauren Crimp of RNZ

• Health NZ was unaware of a complaint about John Bennett’s physical contact with co-workers.
• ACC confirmed concerns were raised in December and addressed, and no further issues were reported.
• Bennett was seconded to Health NZ, but the complaint was not disclosed to it.

Health NZ says it was not told a top ACC official seconded to help out was the subject of a complaint about “physical contact with co-workers”.

RNZ previously reported John Bennett had been headhunted by Health Commissioner Lester Levy as strategic adviser to the interim chief executive.

Bennett, ACC’s deputy chief executive system commissioning and performance, who had only been in that role since September was seconded for a fixed term until the end of June.

In response to questions from RNZ over the complaint against him, ACC confirmed its deputy chief executive people and culture received written communication in mid-December “raising concerns about Bennett’s physical contact with co-workers”.

“ACC chief executive Megan Main was made aware of the concerns and that they had been addressed.

“Action was immediately taken in response to the concern and no further concerns have been formally raised.

“As the matter had been addressed, it was not raised with Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora (HNZ).”

Since the complaint was an employment-related matter, ACC was unable to provide further details.

ACC also confirmed an account by staff members that Bennett appeared shirtless during a video call in January.

“Mr Bennett stated he was unaware that the laptop’s video camera was on and immediately rectified the situation.”

The spokesperson said it agreed to Bennett’s secondment at the request of Health NZ’s commissioner “as his input will benefit both HNZ and ACC”.

A spokesperson for Health New Zealand said its interim chief executive, Dr Dale Bramley, had not been aware of any of the issues raised in the media query and spoke to the chief executive of ACC immediately after receiving the query.

“The two chief executives also had a discussion last week concerning the short-term secondment and no issues were raised during that engagement. We therefore refer all further inquiries to ACC as the employer.”

John Bennett declined to comment to RNZ.

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