Delayed Mapua claim allowed
A worker involved in the decontamination of the toxic former Fruitgrowers Chemical Company site at Mapua has won her bid to be allowed to file a personal grievance outside the three-year limit.
Employment Relations Authority member Dzintra King has granted Sherry Prauner leave to file her personal grievance against Environmental Decontamination Systems, saying it would be unjust to deny her the right.
Ms Prauner was employed in 2006 to assist in the decontamination or remediation of the site where the chemical company manufactured pesticides, including organochlorine and organophosphorus pesticides. According to the Ministry for the Environment, the site was considered the worst contaminated site in New Zealand.
Ms King noted in her determination that it was likely that Ms Prauner and other workers were exposed to toxic substances, including evaporating pesticides, dioxins and benzene. It seemed there were problems with some of the experimental cleaning processes used by EDS.
Ms Prauner raised her grievance in November 2006, and a statement of problem was not lodged until November 2011, more than two years after the limitation period expired.
She did not file proceedings with the authority because of a lack of knowledge of the limitation period, poor legal advice, significant medical problems and because she believed she needed to wait for the final Labour Department report reviewing the cleanup, an assumption reinforced by legal advice.
Ms King said it was an unusual case and what in other circumstances might mitigate against the exercise of discretion in Ms Prauner’s favour was not the case here.
‘‘If the matter is unable to be heard Ms Prauner will lose her right to have a significant matter litigated,’’ she said.
It was readily apparent that she had an arguable case, Ms King said.
‘‘Taking into account the unusual circumstances of this case I find that despite the substantial delay it would be unjust to deny Ms Prauner the right to have her personal grievance heard.’’
Ms Prauner told the Nelson Mail she was thrilled with the decision. ‘‘It sets a precedent in New Zealand for filing a personal grievance against your boss well outside the three-year time limit.’’
She said she would not have succeeded had she not recorded conversations with her MP3 player, taken photos and kept paperwork.