‘Old-school’ worker gets $34k payout

An acid production worker fired for failing to report a workplace injury to his supervisor has been awarded $34,140.

Alastair Cowles worked in the acid services department at Ballance AgriNutrients in Invercargill for 14 years. His job involved monitoring the production of liquid aluminium sulphate.

On January 12 last year, Cowles was injured when his leg slipped through a gap alongside aluminium tanks and he hurt his knee on an angle iron.

Ballance Agri-Nutrients dismissed Cowles because he did not report the accident to the supervisor, or the hazard that caused his injury.

Cowles said he rested for a while and then carried on with work. Cowles told the Employment Relations Authority (ERA): ‘‘I am old-school: Get up, get on with it and harden up.’’

Cowles reported the incident the next day. He told his colleague Jarrid Halder, because his supervisor was away, that he was in a lot of pain and would not be going into work.

On January 14, Cowles told Halder that his doctor had advised him to rest and he would be off work until January 20. Halder relayed the message to production manager Graydon Gillingham.

A week after the injury Cowles returned to work with an ACC claim and Gillingham carried out an internal investigation that found the trip hazard had not been reported before.

On January 29, Gillingham and operations manager Neil Harrison met to discuss why Cowles had not reported the accident. Harrison considered this to be serious misconduct by Cowles and dismissed him for failing to follow policy and putting his and others’ safety at risk.

Cowles’ dismissal had been delegated to Harrison by general manager John Maxwell. But Maxwell didn’t investigate Cowles’ case himself.

The ERA said that as Cowles was not heard by Maxwell, who had the final authority to dismiss, the case was not fairly investigated.

Cowles will receive $22,890 for lost lost wages and compensation of $11,250 for hurt and humiliation.