KEY POINTS:
A long serving Carter Holt Harvey (CHH) employee has been awarded nearly $40,000 after he was found to have been unjustifiably sacked.
Tauranga sales representative and account manager Alan Stevens, 64, had been employed by CHH for 20 years when he was dismissed for serious misconduct.
But the Employment Relations Authority has determined that Stevens' dismissal was "unjustifiable in all the circumstances" and ordered CHH to pay him $39,301, based on the loss of salary (he found another lower-paid job, compensation for loss of benefits, hurt and humiliation.
Stevens was dismissed in September 2006 for "gross negligence" during a CHH round of price increases for customers.
Following training on dealing with the price increase, Mr Stevens negotiated a deal with the local branch of fishing company Sanford Limited, one of CHH's largest customers, which increased Sanford's prices for packaging by 2 per cent.
He told his manager that he had negotiated a deal of about 3 per cent and was complimented on it.
However, later CHH told its staff that the deals could be worth no less than 5.5 per cent. It also said Stevens was not authorised to close the Sanford deal.
The employment authority's Vicki Campbell, after considering the evidence, said she was satisfied CHH made no efforts to rule out the possibility that Mr Stevens had misunderstood instructions.
"I am satisfied an employer acting fairly and reasonably would not have reached the same conclusions in all the circumstances of this case."
- NZPA
