A painter who was fired from his job after a fiery swearing match with his boss has been awarded $22,000 by the Employment Relations Authority.
Johnny Woods worked for Lifestyle Projects Consulting in Whakatane from July 2014 until July 2016 when he was fired. Woods took a successful claim of unjustified dismissal to the ERA.
Woods and his boss Philip Vermaak did not agree on how the series of events that led to him being fired played out, but Jenni-Maree Trotman of the ERA decided Woods was late to a site visit and received a text message from Vermaak stating: "F U 2 it's passed (sic) 8.30".
An argument broke out at the site when Vermaak asked Woods "what the f*** are you doing?".
Both men were swearing at each other loudly and Woods approached Vermaak. When Vermaak asked Woods to stop, he pushed him backwards and told him he was fired.