Rest home carer’s claims she was forced to resign dismissed

Gifkins said she was unhappy with the way she had been treated.

The Employment Relations Authority has dismissed a former Taranaki rest home carer’s claim she was forced to resign from her position after she was falsely accused of dragging a resident and was stalked by a dementia patient.

Kathryn Gifkins claimed her manager did nothing about either incident, so she felt she had no option but to leave.

Gifkins took her case to the Employment Relations Authority claiming her resignation was constructive dismissal, and was unjustified.

Inglewood Welfare Society, which runs the rest home, rejected Gifkins’ claim and said she resigned on her own accord. The authority agreed.

Gifkins was employed as a healthcare assistant at Marinoto Rest Home in Inglewood in July 2016.

Soon after she started, two issues arose, which Gifkins said were of ‘‘significant concern for her’’. She became aware that in her role she was expected to dispense medication to patients, which was something she felt uncomfortable doing as she was afraid of making a mistake.

Gifkins felt that was a task for a registered nurse.

Her manager, Barbara Kay, said Gifkins did not express her concerns about how fearful she was of the adverse consequences if a mistake was made.

She said Gifkins was ‘‘very competent’’ at providing medication and there were no concerns about her confidence.

Authority member Michele Ryan said she was satisfied the requirement to dispense blister pack medications was a reasonable activity associated with Gifkin’s position.

The second issue Gifkins had was with a dementia patient who became ‘‘infatuated’’ with her.

The resident told her he wanted to marry her, and proposed to her.

He continued to purposely seek her out, give her gifts, make phone calls to her home, and follow her to the car park.

She complained to Kay saying she felt harassed, but said her concerns were never addressed by the rest home.

However, Kay said she told Gifkins she did not have to go to the part of the rest home where the resident was living, she did not have to attend his cares, or talk to him.

Gifkins said it was difficult to distance herself from him due to the size of the rest home.

Ryan said it was clear Gifkins received unwanted attention from the resident, but she could not apportion blame to the rest home as there were options given to her by management to reduce their interaction.

In May 2017, Gifkins wrote a letter to Kay notifying her of her resignation.

This came after Gifkins alleged that earlier that day Kay falsely accused her of dragging a patient when she and another carer were trying to lift a patient off the floor and into a chair. Instead of helping Gifkins and the other carer, Kay yelled ‘‘Are you dragging him or lifting him?’’ Gifkins said.

Kay admitted she said those words, but denied she yelled them, or that the statement was solely aimed at Gifkins.

Gifkins said she was unhappy with the way she had been treated. She felt distressed and claimed Kay had not listened to her and had been unresponsive.

Ryan said Kay’s manner, coupled with the words used at the time of the incident, may have been ‘‘insensitive and unhelpful in the moment’’.

‘‘I accept, however, that Ms Gifkins was unhappy and resentful as a consequence. But I am not at all persuaded that the interaction could be regarded as a breach of Ms Gifkins’ employment, let alone one that could be fairly characterised as dismissive or repudiatory conduct that would make it reasonably forseeable Ms Gifkins would resign,’’ Ryan said.

‘‘An employer is under no contractual obligation to behave sensitively towards its employees.’’

Ryan ruled Gifkins’ resignation was not a constructive dismissal and her claim is dismissed.