Fonterra Brands has been ordered to pay a former employee $20,000 in compensation plus lost wages after a heated discussion between himself and his manager led to his dismissal for serious misconduct.
The Employment Relations Authority ruling found Fonterra did not sufficiently investigate the incident involving former employee Steve Waite; that his alleged behaviour became exaggerated throughout the process; and Fonterra was not fully transparent in providing all the relevant information and did not look at alternatives to dismissal.
Waite was employed as a production supervisor at an unnamed Fonterra plant, having worked for the company for 27 years.
On January 31 2022, he called in sick with vomiting and diarrhoea.
On the same day, five other employees who were rostered onto the same production line were also away sick.
His manager, Christina Beck, suspected the absences were not genuine because she had previously heard employees on the floor planning a day off to disrupt production.
She informed her two-up manager Jim Fryer about the issue. He escalated the issue to Fonterra’s employment relations (ER) team.
As the back-up control room operator, Waite’s absence was critical as if there was no control room operator, production would be severely impacted.
A text message raising these concerns was prepared by ER and sent from Beck to Waite, which upset Waite, who was genuinely sick.
He alleged the message was an example of bullying and victimisation and he would add it to his “case file of bullying in the workplace”.
By the time Waite returned to work, Fonterra had decided to pay all the absent employees and did not require him to provide a medical certificate.
He became fixated on finding out who wrote the text message.
Growing tension between Waite and Beck, who shared an office, resulted in raised voices and accusations by Beck that Waite’s demeanour and tone made her feel bullied, intimidated, upset and emotional.
Beck swore during the exchange, which ended when she left the office, slamming the door.
She raised a complaint about Waite’s behaviour in that exchange, which became the focus of a subsequent meeting rather than the text, which was Waite’s focus.
He was subsequently suspended then dismissed and alleges he was disadvantaged by Fonterra’s actions and delays in launching its investigation and that Fonterra did not communicate with him in good faith.
Fonterra said it was justified in holding a meeting to discuss the incident, and that there were no unjustifiable delays to the investigation process.
Waite’s behaviour was unacceptable and a fair and reasonable employer could conclude his actions constituted serious misconduct and the most appropriate outcome was summary dismissal, Fonterra said.
The authority found that Fonterra did not sufficiently investigate the incident and was not persuaded by its key reason for dismissing Waite, that he presented an unacceptable risk to the health, safety and wellbeing to Beck and other staff.
In Focus Podcast | GrowAg initiative offers funding hook-up opportunities
Senior Farmers Weekly journalist Richard Rennie is subbing in for Bryan this week.
He talks to Harriet Mellish, general manager for Australia’s AgriFutures GrowAG initiative based in Wagga Wagga. Harriet outlines the opportunities GrowAg provides for Kiwi agritech startups to tap into opening them up to a far wider funding and partnership arena at a time when NZ’s own funding environment is tight.
