Meatworkers unfairly dismissed, ERA rules

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Two meatworkers fired for getting stoned on their meal break were unfairly dismissed, the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) says.

However, Joe Slade and his nephew Boe Pikia-Gillies won't keep their jobs or get compensation because of serious misconduct.

They were sacked from Invercargill's South Pacific Meats Limited in February 2009 after a random drug search by a firm it employed to carry out searches by dogs for drugs.

The men were returning to work after their usual dinner break, when a drug dog and its handler, Peter White, approached their vehicle.

Mr White said the pair admitted smoking marijuana and he became concerned about them returning to work.

Both men were suspended on full pay by their manager, who was also a nephew of Mr Slade.

During several subsequent meetings with management, the men denied telling Mr White they had been "smoking up".

Both men admitted using marijuana for many years but said they never smoked during work hours.

ERA member Helen Doyle ruled the men were unjustifiably dismissed saying that a "fair and reasonable employer" faced with a denial such as that given by Mr Slade and Mr Pikia-Gillies would have returned to Mr White to see whether there could have been a mistake as to what he said.

But she found that on the basis of probabilities Mr Slade and Mr Pikia-Gillies smoked marijuana during their work break and when they returned they were under the influence of the drug and had they not been suspended would have worked in that state.

This made their conduct unacceptable to their employer and in the dangerous environment of a meat processing plant amounted to serious misconduct.

As a result, Ms Doyle said there would be no order on remedies for the men.

- NZPA