Factory worker awarded $30,000

An Invercargill factory worker has successfully claimed more than $30,000 from his former employers, after being unjustifiably dismissed from his job.

Alistair Cowles had worked at Ballance Agri-Nutrients’ Awarua Plant for 14 years, before being fired in February 2016 for failing to report a workplace injury.

The Employment Relations Authority awarded Cowles $22,890 in lost wages and $11,250 in compensation.

The court ruled while Cowles had some blameworthy conduct on his part, the incident was not so serious ‘‘as to deeply impair or destroy trust and confidence’’, particularly given Cowles 14-year unblemished record of service.

The court said Cowles had not received a fair hearing during Ballance’s investigation, where his case had not been heard by the ultimate decision-maker.

Cowles, who is in his 60s, had injured himself on January 12, 2016, after a fall caused by walking into a gap on one of the plant’s walkways.

After spending 15 to 20 minutes in ‘‘extreme pain’’, Cowles said the pain had then subsided and he worked the rest of his shift.

When the pain returned before work the next day, Cowles rang one of his workmates to inform them he would not be coming into work becdause of his injured knee.

Ballance managementfound out about the injury only after receiving an ACC claim letter.

Following an investigation by Ballance, it was decided that Cowles had been negligent in failing to report the incident and potentially exposing other workers to the same hazard in the eight days after he had been injured, which then led to his dismissal.

The court was not satisfied Cowles’ failure to report the hazard in the eight days after the incident had seriously affected safety at the plant, given it had been there for at least 14 years.