Unfair dismissal wins principal $73,000
An Auckland principal who let his teaching practice certificate lapse has been awarded $73,000 for an unjustified dismissal.
Katene Paenga was the former principal at Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Puau te Moananuia-kiwa in Auckland’s Glen Innes. He had let his certificate – which is necessary for a principal to hold – lapse while on sabbatical for almost a year in 2015.
The kura’s board of trustees, opposing his reinstatement, fired and permanently replaced him.
Paenga took the case to the Employment Relations Authority, seeking reinstatement, as well as lost remuneration and compensation for humiliation.
The authority’s judgment, released on Friday, said the issues the board had with Paenga were largely performance or competency issues which should have been addressed. However, Paenga was never told there were any concerns, the judgment said.
There was no performance agreement, appraisal or review, despite the board’s expectations appearing to change ‘‘considerably’’ after Paenga went on sabbatical.
Paenga asked for $30,000 for injured feelings and $8479 in lost wages.
He said he was upset by what he felt was a ‘‘harassing and heavy handed approach’’ by the board, the judgment said.
At a hui in 2015, the board made a formal statement to a crowd of 60 about Paenga’s dismissal, the judgment said.
‘‘The issues the board had with Paenga were largely performance or competency issues’’
The statement read referred to Paenga being dismissed for ‘‘serious misconduct’’ when the dismissal letter referred only to ‘‘misconduct’’, it said.
The chair then made an unscripted reference to money, a deficit, and auditors having concerns, which could be taken to suggest Paenga had been involved in financial impropriety, the judgment said.
Paenga was a long-serving employee whose life was intertwined with the kura, where his wife also worked, the judgment said.
Satisfied he had lost ‘‘substan- tial’’ remuneration, Authority member Nicole Craig considered he should be reimbursed for the wages lost in the month before he found a new job, as well as for a 12-month period after that, amounting to $47,563.
He was also awarded $25,000 for emotional distress.