An employee has won his personal grievance claim for unjustified dismissal after he was sacked for deliberately not doing his job.

The employee was loading a truck with a large order.  He completed most of the task but some of the order was not where it was supposed to be stored.  He located the missing goods in another part of the warehouse, but could not be bothered moving them to the truck.  The order went out only partially complete.

The employer conducted a disciplinary investigation, but did not tell the employee of his right to a support person before the meeting.  It told him at the meeting, but this was too late to allow him to organise a representative and to prepare for the meeting.

The employer also did not tell the employee what parts of its House Rules he was alleged to have broken or that he could be dismissed if the allegation was found to be correct.  The employer also did not treat the employee consistently with others and a written warning would have been sufficient.  Because of these failings the dismissal was unjustified and the employee was awarded 20½ weeks lost wages and $4,000 compensation.  This was reduced by 40% due to the employee’s actions.

If you need help getting your disciplinary process right, please give me a call on (04) 473 6850.