A South Canterbury rural valuer who destroyed company files after resigning from his job was last week ordered to pay $3000 to his former employer.
The Employment Relations Authority (ERA) ruled Allan Chisnall, of Fairview, breached his employment agreement with Darroch Ltd and its parent company, Quotable Value Ltd, when he destroyed "commercially sensitive" documents belonging to Darroch.
Mr Chisnall, who resigned in July, claimed he had taken the files from Darroch's Timaru office so he could finish valuations that he had started, and asserted he had only taken them to assist the company in ratifying his own administrative shortfalls.
He admitted some documents had been destroyed, but claimed they had not contained proprietary or commercially sensitive information.
However, ERA member Mark Loftus said he did not agree.
"Evidence proffered on behalf of Darroch is that the files may contain information about a property which is not, or cannot, be retained electronically."
Mr Loftus said the files had contained information that could give Darroch a "commercial advantage", and also contained information on how previous valuations were performed and how various issues influenced the outcome.
"That is proprietary information."
Although Mr Chisnall claimed he had been "well-intentioned", Mr Loftus said his breach of employment conditions had been "deliberate".
