Former council employee posts tell-all video

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A local authority has been granted an interim injunction against a former staff member who posted a tell-all video online and sent links to staff and elected officials.

The council and the former staff member, an "IT specialist", cannot be named pending a full investigation by the Employment Relations Authority (ERA).

Mr Q worked for the local authority on a regional shared services project involving several local councils until his employment ended in September 2014. He was bound by confidentiality terms in a settlement agreement reached between the parties.

But the council, which is referred to as "P" in the decision, said he breached those terms in the video, which was posted online and a link sent to nine other local authorities, including staff and elected members.

The video link was emailed with the subject line: "What happened to [Mr Q] in 2014?"

It read: "Do you recall me? I was in the [P] IT department and had a lot of involvement with [the IT project] getting set up. I suddenly disappeared about midway through 2014.

"If you do you might be interested in the [P] sequence of events that led to what has been a very costly process with a sad ending. The video documents the management failings, the money spent, the NZ Police involvement, and other matters around what has happened behind my sudden departure."

The website included release dates for two future videos on April 20 and 25.

In the 35-minute video, Mr Q talked about the council's IT system, its security and storage, identified staff involved, and referred to a police investigation of allegations against him.

Police charges were laid against him but later withdrawn, the ERA decision said.

The council sought an interim injunction requiring the video be taken down, and preventing Mr Q from communicating with staff or elected officials at his former workplace and the nine other local authorities.

In his response to the injunction application, Mr Q said the settlement agreement had been signed under duress and was therefore null and void. He was entitled to talk publicly about matters that were not employment matters, he said.

The ERA ordered that he take down the website and video, desist from publicising the video, and stop communicating about confidential matters with employees or elected officials of the local authority, or any other third party.

A full hearing on the matter will be held in May.