By arrangement, Pandit left the country in September last year for an extended period of leave to India and was planning to bring his wife and children to New Zealand on his return.
This plan did not go ahead as Immigration New Zealand cancelled his visa in November on the basis of two emails and a letter sent by employer Swamy.
In the letter Swamy claimed Pandit had disguised a diagnosis of diabetes and manipulated his medical condition by taking medication during the process of his application for his most recent work visa, the decision said.
Swamy wrote: "Based on this information, we request to terminate his visa as we will not be employing him further".
He also asked for his email to be kept anonymous, and requested to be advised "when action taken". In a separate email sent to an immigration officer, Swamy wrote: "Pandit's employment is terminated due to the reasons provided."
Immigration evaluator Nathan Fu contacted Swamy to request verification on the contents of his emails in a signed letter.
After a signed letter had been received, Immigration New Zealand emailed Pandit a letter to advise that it had received information that he was no longer employed and intended to cancel his visa.
His visa was cancelled as he was no longer employed by Swamy.
Following the cancellation of his work visa Pandit could not return to New Zealand and Immigration New Zealand posted a border alert to stop him checking into New Zealand bound flights.
The Authority heard that Pandit had been advised by his GP to change his diet and lifestyle after a routine blood test for his work visa application showed elevated blood sugar levels. He was also prescribed iron supplement tablets. After eight weeks the test was repeated with satisfactory results and he was granted a visa.
An investigation by the Authority found evidence of Pandit's personal grievance from four people, including Swamy, Nathan Fu and a Satya restaurant manager.
Discussion between Swamy, Pandit and another worker led to the miscommunication around talks of Pandit's high blood sugar levels and claims of him obtaining medicine to mask symptoms to achieve satisfactory results.
Satya restaurant manager Venkata Ramana Swanapuri gave evidence and confirmed to the Authority that Pandit talked to him about his health issues.
Swamy claims Swanapuri told him Pandit had asked if his nephew, a doctor, could get him diabetic medicine without a prescription, which he subsequently could not. Pandit's evidence was different.
He claims he told Swamy about his high blood sugar levels and that it was Swamy who suggested he talk to Swanapuri about getting medication to help.
Swanapuri gave him tablets of some form but Pandit did not take them. He said he changed his diet and drank large amounts of water.
Swamy told the Authority during its investigation he was concerned at the prospect that Pandit may have achieved a renewed work visa by masking the true state of his health.
Swamy did not directly talk to Pandit about his concerns.
The Authority found that Swamy acted on second hand account and invited Immigration New Zealand to act on it without checking with Pandit if there was any truth to the claims.
This was outlined in email correspondence.
The Authority heard that Pandit was already on leave in India when Swamy was told the story of Pandit manipulating his test result.
The decision stated that Swamy should have provided Pandit with the opportunity to respond to his cause for concerns, had the needed email and contact information to do so, and that there was no rush for him to act on the story as there were several weeks for him to respond before he was due to return to work.
Swamy said he had to act promptly because he did not want to compromise the status of his business in having visa applications approved as those visas were vital for him to employ the needed trained South Indian chefs for his restaurants.
"A fair and reasonable employer could not have acted on that supposed information without providing an opportunity to comment and possibly correct it," the decision said.
The Authority found that was not a satisfactory explanation for what he did.
There was no doubt Swamy was aware that Pandit would not be able to return to New Zealand to work following his actions, according to the decision.
He had not directly told Pandit his employment had ended.
The decision stated that there was more Swamy could have done to be a fair and reasonable employer.
Pandit was paid $18,465 in lost wages and $15,000 in compensation for the "financial anxiety", humiliation and shock of termination he was subjected to.
Swamy has been approached for comment.
