Following breaches of sterility procedures a hospital employee was dismissed because of prior warnings and a final warning.

The Employment Relations Authority upheld the employee’s personal grievance claim for unjustified dismissal because the employer failed to follow its own process, did not tell the employee that dismissal was a possibility, and failed to properly investigate the allegations.

The employee was awarded $5,000 compensation, but no lost wages (because she failed to prove she had lost wages) and no reinstatement because of the employee’s conduct and failure to follow safe practices.

The $5,000 award was reduced to $2,500 because of the employee’s contributing poor conduct.

If the employer had followed its own process properly it could have dealt with this poorly performing employee without the cost of defending and losing a personal grievance claim.