The sacking by Whangarei District Council chief executive officer Mark Simpson of his personal assistant has cost ratepayers almost $200,000 in legal fees after a judgment ruled the firing was wrong.
The Employment Relations Authority (ERA) ruled last month Mr Simpson was not justified in sacking Jan Walters-Gleeson last Septemberafter 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 council and Mrs Walters-Gleeson were encouraged by ERA member Robin Arthur to determine how costs should be dealt with, but generally the winning party received a contribution towards costs from the losing party.
Whangarei Mayor Sheryl Mai yesterday released to the Northern Advocate details of the legal costs incurred by the council in fighting the case so far.
Auckland law firm Simpson Grierson was employed to fight Mrs Walters-Gleeson's claim to the ERA and Ms Mai said that bill came to $160,530.12 excluding GST, which would add another $24,079.
An earlier internal council review of Mr Simpson's actions - which cleared him of any wrongdoing - incurred more legal costs from Auckland firm Dawson Harford & Partners, for lawyer Simon Stokes who advised the review team, of $7878 excluding GST. GST would add another $1181 to that bill.
Whangarei council CEO Mark Simpson.
The total does not include the cost of any council staff who have worked on the issue because time was not recorded on a job-by-job basis by the staff concerned, Ms Mai said. Nor did it include any contribution to Mrs Walters-Gleeson's legal costs or the $37,000 awarded by the ERA. She said the work carried out by Simpson Grierson covered a long process and the fees covered the costs of establishing whether there were any implications for the election process; identifying employment issues relating to the nomination; preparing for and attending mediation; preparing to respond to a judicial review requested by Mrs Walters-Gleeson (which was later withdrawn); responding to a request by Mrs Walters-Gleeson for her claim to be removed to the Employment Court (the matter remained with the ERA); and preparing for and attending the hearing and administration following the outcome of the hearing.
The Northern Advocate understands a decision has yet to be made whether to appeal the ERA decision and an appeal would incur further legal costs.
Ms Mai said an extraordinary meeting of the council was held on September 16 when the council's Chief Executive Officer Review Committee was charged with meeting Mr Simpson to discuss the issues arising from the findings of the ERA.
That meeting would be held this month, she said.
"We will not go into further detail on processes, the nature of those issues or any other matters relating to this at this stage because this is an employment matter and provisions under the Employment Act require confidentiality," Ms Mai said.
In sacking Mrs Walters-Gleeson, Mr Simpson had said she had breached the council's code of conduct and its electoral protocols for employees.
The protocols say it is important for all council employees to remain politically neutral at all times in their dealings with elected members and the public in general.
But in his decision, Mr Arthur said Mr Simpson imposed an unjustified double standard in dismissing Mrs Walters-Gleeson while allowing his personal assistant Ford Watson to work for another mayoral candidate, Warwick Syers.
"A decision maker, acting on behalf of a fair and reasonable employer, could not, in those circumstances, have interpreted and applied the protocols to impose a higher standard for the careless action of a PA and a lower standard for the deliberate action of a CEO," Mr Arthur said.
He said Mr Simpson's approval left him open to allegations of bias - the very situation the protocols were intended to help the council and its employees, including its CEO, avoid.
