Big payout for wrongly fired labourer

Property management company worker awarded $17,000 after bosses failed to properly follow employment rules.

A labourer wrongly who was wrongly fired has won a $17,000 payout from his property management company bosses.

Steve Leech was employed by Auckland company Big Mal on an individual employment agreement in late 2015 having previously been contracted to them by labour hire company MH2.

In February this year, Leech was fired for serious misconduct and took his case to the Employment Relations Authority. A two day hearing took place.

Big Mal director Malcolm Smith cited two reasons for the dismissal - serious and repeated failure to follow a reasonable instruction and actions which seriously damaged the employer’s reputation.

The first accusation followed an altercation between Leech and a colleague over working together during which Leech was said to have verbally abused his workmate.

The second was over alleged damage of a property during spray painting when paint spread onto surrounding areas.

Leech denied his employer’s versions of both events although he did admit a verbal altercation had taken place, after he was provoked, during which he told a colleague to f*** off.

He said he was not at work when the accidental spray painting happened.

Leech said he was not given a warning, was not told that the events could lead to dismissal and that no investigation was held.

He sought compensation for hurt and humiliation, as well as lost wages for the time when he was out of work.

ERA member Anna Fitzgibbon said the statements provided by the company were inadequate and some lacked credibility as they related to events when the authors were not actually present. It preferred Leech’s evidence.

It found that Leech’s dismissal was not justified by law and that Big Mal did not act as a fair and reasonable employer in either of the situations it said led to the firing.

Big Mal was ordered to pay $10,000 for hurt and humiliation and $7087.50 in lost wages as it took Leech seven weeks to find a new job.