Member of the Employment Relations Authority Peter Fuiava’s investigation found the Port had received communications of an “unpleasant and concerning nature” from a member of the Common Law Movement - a group described in the judgment as operating under the misconceived notion that the rule of law does not apply to them as sovereign citizens in their own right.
Young said he became involved with the group at a “low point” in his life when he was no longer the breadwinner for his family and following his mother’s death.
After Young’s employment ended, he sent a letter to the Port alleging it was in breach of “the common laws of England” and it needed to “cease and desist all coercion”.
A member of the Common Law Movement emailed a female port worker claiming a previously healthy vaccinated port worker had become “extremely ill”.
The member then said she would be legally liable if the port worker died and could be sentenced to five years’ imprisonment or fined $3m.
The email ended: “Enjoy this New Year’s Eve because it looks likely that you will be spending the next one in prison.”
The Port subsequently received a notice of declaration for debt verification and tort damages from the Common Law Movement, claiming any deaths arising from the Covid vaccinations would denote murder. It also demanded payment of $100m - one-tenth of which was to be paid into Young’s bank account and the remainder to be paid in gold bullion.
Young confirmed the document’s contents to be “true and correct” and signed and thumb-printed the document in red ink. His signature was witnessed by two other individuals whose signatures and thumbprints were marked with red ink.
Engineer was ‘doctor shopping’ for medical exemption certificate for Covid vaccine
The report said Young provided the Port with two medical exemptions in a meeting in September 2021 however, they were not forwarded to the Ministry of Health because of “concerns regarding their validity”.
Both doctors lived in separate cities from Young which called into question whether he had been physically examined by them.
One certificate did not contain any explanation as to why vaccination was not appropriate while the other involved “ticking boxes and lacked reasons”.
The report said Young approached those two doctors because most doctors were “pro-vax”.
It said Young was “doctor shopping” for a medical exemption certificate “no weight can be given” to the certificates he provided.
“As he did not wish to be vaccinated, the Port would have had no reasonable option but to terminate his employment.”
The report said the process to Young was “fair” as he was offered a gatehouse security role at the Port but declined because the position paid about half his salary as a tug engineer.
“Mr Young’s application is unsuccessful and is dismissed.”
After the two-day investigation meeting in October, Young and the Port sought permanent name suppression of their names and details.
This was denied upon assessment of the information and evidence and in the principle of open justice.
Megan Wilson is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.
