Dismissal for security breaches justified…

The Employment Relations Authority has rejected a claim for a personal grievance for unjustified dismissal by an employee.  The employee was accused of serious breaches of security in his workplace and these were investigated by the employer.  An external investigator was engaged to investigate and to report back.  The employee was given the details of the allegations and an opportunity to comment on them and when the findings came out finding serious misconduct he was advised of the preliminary view of dismissal and was given an opportunity to comment on that.

The ERA found that the investigation carried out was done fairly and could not be criticised.  The decision reached that the employee had breached security matters was one a fair and reasonable employer could reach and the decision to dismiss was fair and reasonable in the circumstances.  This meant that the employee’s claims of unjustified dismissal were rejected.




Alan Knowsley
Employment Lawyer
Wellington