13 October 2008
The General Manager of Arthur D Riley & Co Ltd, Garth Mickell, says a level of common sense has been applied in the decision by the Employment Court which has found that his company was justified in dismissing an employee.
The case, which was originally an appeal against a decision from the Employment Relations Authority, involved the dismissal of an employee for forwarding offensive images by e-mail to internal and external recipients.
Ms Wood forwarded an email containing pictures of naked people, having twice previously been warned about similar behaviour.
Mr Mickell says his company has only applied the terms of employment and policies that Ms Wood had signed, and she had been warned about on more than one occasion.
“It has been a long and costly process, but we could not let the ERA ruling stand as is, due to the ongoing impact it may have on employment disputes. Each and every employment environment is different and this ruling allows this to be taken into account.”
The Employment Court held that the company was justified in dismissing the employee because of the relatively conservative nature of the workplace, the clarity of the company’s policies as to what constituted unacceptable behaviour, that previous warnings had been given, and because of the employee’s actions.
The Court also held that in situations where an employer does not strictly apply its own policies, this does not necessarily disentitle it from pursuing disciplinary action.
Blair Scotland, from EMA Legal who represented Arthur D Riley & Co Ltd, says this case is important for employers as it highlights that individual organisations can have their own moral codes and standards, and can enforce these.
“Section 103A of the Employment Relations Act 2000 does not require a ‘one size fits all’ approach to an employer’s standards, so that behaviour deemed acceptable in the local mechanic’s workshop may not necessarily be acceptable at the childcare centre down the road,” Mr Scotland said.
ENDS
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