Fire Service ordered to pay $3500 to senior staff member

The NZFS has been ordered to pay $3500 to a senior staff member. Photo / File

The Fire Service has been ordered to pay $3500 in costs to a senior staff member who received an unjustified formal warning for bullying.

Fire investigator Lynda McHugh had sought $19,000 in costs relating to her case in the Employment Relations Authority.

Ms McHugh said she spent $11,000 in legal fees, and that the cost would have been much higher had her lawyer not capped her fee, and undertaken additional work for free.

The authority said a large proportion of Ms McHugh's costs related to part of her claim which was not successful, and that she had been responsible for delays in the investigation.

The New Zealand Fire Service (NZFS) was ordered to pay $3500 as a contribution to costs, plus disbursements of $761.55.

In an authority decision in December, Ms McHugh was awarded $5250 for the unjustified verbal warning given while she was a fire investigator for the Waitemata region.

Other staff had claimed she ignored their greetings and bullied them in meetings, creating an "icy environment".

She was given a verbal warning, however the authority found the NZFS had not conducted a full and fair investigation into the claims.

Ms McHugh was disadvantaged by the warning and overlooked for a transfer because of the blemish on her record, the authority found.

However, she had failed to fully uphold her duty to act in good faith by secretly recording a meeting.