Ex-PGC boss denied $880,000 of bonus shares or redundancy pay

Pyne Gould Corporation director George Kerr.

Former Pyne Gould Corporation managing director John Duncan is not entitled to $880,000 of bonus shares or redundancy pay from the company and has been awarded only around $4,000 after an Employment Relations Authority fight.

Duncan resigned from PGC last year amid a disciplinary probe.

This followed him sending instructions to PGC financial controller James West to pay bonuses to senior executives in March last year.

This resulted in $2.3 million being transferred from PGC subsidiary Torchlight for these bonuses.

The same day, PGC director George Kerr expressed concern that the bonuses had been paid ahead of Torchlight's other financial obligations and said the transaction needed to be reversed.

This was arranged and in April of last year Duncan was suspended while the board investigated whether he had misappropriated company funds.

He resigned later that month.

Duncan took a case to the ERA saying he was entitled to the bonus and wanted orders for it to be paid. He also sought redundancy entitlements and a penalty for a late payment of holiday pay as well as interest.

In August 2011 there were discussions between directors about the bonus. Duncan believes it was agreed he would receive two million PGC shares for the year ending June 30, 2011.

Another PGC director, Bryan Mogridge, disagreed and claimed the PGC board proposed the bonus but that it needed sign-off from the remuneration committee.

Authority member Tania Tetitaha said in a decision on the case this week that Duncan had no legal entitlement to the two million bonus shares, which PGC estimates would be worth around $880,000 today.

She also dismissed his claim for redundancy compensation.

Duncan had originally sought $13,930 of holiday pay arrears, which PGC paid after the ERA hearing. Duncan then sought interest and a penalty for the late payment, which the ERA awarded in its decision this week.

PGC estimates this to be about $4,000.