Boiler worker fired for sleeping on job

Photo / NZH

When Air New Zealand supervisor Jack Cassidy found Doug Dee lying on the floor of Christchurch Airport's boiler room office at 1.30 one morning in May, he assumed that the boiler operator was asleep.

He couldn't swear that Mr Dee's eyes were shut, because the lights were off. But Mr Dee's boots were off and he also had a pillow.

"I could not see Doug anywhere in the room which was quite dim...then all of the sudden there was a movement from the floor on my left and Doug sprang up from underneath the bench," Mr Cassidy told the Employment Relations Authority, hearing Mr Dee's case that he was unjustifiably dismissed from his job.

"He said something like 'shit, shit' and then quickly sat on the chair near the computer screen, putting what I saw was a pillow behind him so that he sat on it.

"I said something like 'what are you doing down there?' to which Doug said nothing. It was as if we both got a big fright."

Mr Dee later said the lights were off because he was watching a TV replay of a Warriors league game, which was allowed by his bosses and it was easier to see the screen with them off.

He was suspended at the end of the night shift.

He initially gave no explanation for his actions, but nine days after the incident told a disciplinary hearing that he was doing back exercises on the floor when Mr Cassidy found him, as his physio had prescribed them for a persistent lower back problem.

He denied the double expletive that Mr Cassidy had reported and vehemently denied saying "If I promise not to do it again, would that be okay?".

Air NZ found Mr Dee guilty of serious misconduct in sleeping or intending to sleep when he was supposed to be on duty, as the person in sole charge of the boiler. It also found him guilty of misconduct in twice leaving the boiler unattended. He was dismissed.

ERA member James Crichton found in favour of Mr Cassidy's version of events over Mr Dee's.

He said there was evidence Mr Dee had a lower back problem and that the physio had asked him do regular stretching exercises. But there was no evidence that Mr Cassidy knew about the exercise requirement or that anyone had seen Mr Dee doing the exercises.

He said that Air NZ could not prove that Mr Dee was sleeping, but was entitled to its finding that he was either sleeping or lying down, intending to sleep. The finding of serious misconduct and the subsequent dismissal was fair and reasonable, he said.

It was common ground that the Warriors game had finished 20 minutes before Mr Cassidy found Mr Dee on the floor, he said.

- NZPA