Whangarei District Council spent more than $9000 on a legal opinion on whether it should appeal an Employment Authority ruling that found former CEO Mark Simpson had unjustifiably dismissed his personal assistant.
In August last year an Employment Relations Authority (ERA) ruling found Mr Simpson had unjustly dismissed his PA, Jan Walters-Gleeson.
The ERA ruled that Mr Simpson was not justified in sacking Mrs Walters-Gleeson in September 2013 after she signed an election nomination form for mayoral candidate Stan Semenoff. The ERA ruled she was unfairly dismissed and should be awarded more than $37,000 in lost wages and compensation.
The ERA also found Mr Simpson left himself open to bias criticism, made an untrue statement, conducted a "sham" interview and used double standards during the dismissal process. He had allowed another staff member to work for a different mayoral candidate.
Last September, the WDC revealed that its cost for responding to Mrs Walters-Gleeson's claim to the ERA came to $184,609.12. The cost of an earlier internal council review of her dismissal came to $9059, including GST.