Sacking of ‘creepy’ supervisor upheld

A Fonterra supervisor sacked for serious misconduct after allegations ‘‘of a sexual nature’’ has lost an appeal against his dismissal.

Nathan Frahm’s colleagues at the Clandeboye factory in South Canterbury described his behaviour as ‘‘f...ing disgusting’’ and ‘‘creepy’’ before his dismissal on February 14, 2017.

After his dismissal, Frahm went the the Employment Relations Authority (ERA), claiming he was unjustifiably disadvantaged by being suspended while Fonterra investigated claims against him and that he was unjustifiably dismissed.

The ERA disagreed and said Fonterra’s actions were justified.

A manager at the plant, Susan Davidson, told the ERA that on October 25, 2016, had pictures to show him of a piece of equipment.

‘‘He asked whether it was a picture of me naked. I said no. He then asked me whether I would like to see him naked and he zipped down his overalls. I got the impression he was pulling down his overalls gesturing to [bare] all,’’ she told the ERA.

The next day, Frahm was telling staff about heat transfer and cooling with the pipes. He then made comments about feeling ‘‘heat transfer’’ between himself and Davidson, she said.

Later, she laid a complaint with one of Frahm’s managers, Phillip Hammond but said she didn’t want to take it further.

In November, Hammond heard more allegations, and decided to investigate. Another worker alleged she’d been subjected to unwanted sexual advances and comments that had made her uncomfortable, but she told Hammond she could handle it.

But she said she found Frahm creepy and felt uncomfortable around him, so Hammond reported the claims to his manager, Mark Walter.

On November 25, Walter emailed Frahm, inviting him to a meeting to let him know he was considering suspending him during further investigations.

Frahm was suspended on full pay, and an investigation meeting was held three weeks later. Frahm felt he was the subject of a witchhunt and denied many of the accusations against him or said he’d been misunderstood.

Further investigation followed the meeting, and Walter told Frahm on December 30 the appropriate action was dismissal.

Frahm showed a lack of genuine remorse at the distress his actions had caused, Walter said.

He was dismissed in February.