Unjustifiably dismissed even though he misused Scout funds

In the recent case of Uerata-Jennings v The Scout Association of New Zealand a senior Scout employee who treated Scouting funds as his own personal bank, by the unauthorised spending of over $20,000 of Scout money on his own personal expenses, was found to have been unjustifiably dismissed. The employee claimed that other employees also misused Scout funds in the same way. Because the employer didn’t fully investigate this claim until after the dismissal, the Employment Relations Authority found that the dismissal was unjustified – even though such an investigation would have made NO difference to the decision to dismiss.

For the employer, the good news was that the employee’s award was reduced by 90% because of his blameworthy conduct.

This decision is one of many recent ones that show that, no matter how bad an employee’s actions at work have been, if the employer gets the procedure wrong they will have to pay. For employers it is very important that your procedure is water tight. If you are an employer dealing with a difficult employee situation, or if you are an employee who feels wronged, please talk to us as we can help.