A Pukeuri meat worker who claimed he was unjustifiably dismissed by Alliance Group Ltd has lost the case he took to the Employment Relations Authority.
Gary Parker claimed he was constructively dismissed from his job at the Pukeuri meat works as he felt he had no option but to leave after Alliance Group failed to protect him from working in an unsafe environment.
He sought lost remuneration of $14,400, compensation of $10,000, and costs.
Alliance said Mr Parker was dismissed when, on a current final warning, he left the meat plant without authorisation.
After considering all the evidence, authority member Paul Montgomery found the dismissal of Mr Parker was justifiable in all the circumstances; what a fair and reasonable employer would have done in the light of those circumstances.
The dispute dated to November 2006 when Mr Parker left the workplace without permission after several employees came to him with complaints about sexual harassment by a co-worker.
That made Mr Parker lose concentration, causing health and safety issues, so he took himself from the workplace without permission.
At a meeting later that month he was counselled, but not subject to disciplinary action.
In January 2007, he again left the workplace because, he said, he could not cope with the co-worker's behaviour.
After a meeting with the company, Mr Parker was placed on a final warning and transferred to a different room to address concerns he was having with the co-worker.
In March, 2007, Mr Parker approached a supervisor and said he was going to resign.
The supervisor spoke to him to try to determine what the problem was, asking Mr Parker for "a couple of days" to speak to management about the issues.
However, Mr Parker left the workplace again on March 22 and, at a meeting in April which also included union officials, was dismissed.
Pukeuri plant manager Danny Hailes said yesterday, when contacted by the Otago Daily Times, the authority's decision vindicated the company's handling of the issue and the process it followed.
Mr Parker could not be contacted.
