KEY POINTS:
A Navy Hospital doctor has been awarded $101,000 by the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) for a sacking it deemed "callous, hasty and rash".
Fiona Ross-Taylor had her employment terminated by the Defence Force in December 2007, after nearly 12 years at the Navy Hospital in Devonport, Auckland.
She was fired after raising concerns over being rostered to do work she was unqualified for.
ERA member Leon Robinson awarded her $20,000 in compensation for "emotional trauma and distress suffered" as a result of her dismissal.
He ordered the Chief of Defence Force to pay Dr Ross-Taylor $81,072.19 in compensation for lost income.
Mr Robinson was unimpressed by the actions of the hospital, which maintained Dr Ross-Taylor was a contractor, not an employee, and had contributed to her own demise.
Her long service and good work at the hospital had come to an end in "an entirely avoidable and unnecessary way", Mr Robinson said.
"The ending of this extended relationship was callous, hasty and rash."
In November 2007, Dr Ross-Taylor told hospital general manager Jeanette Cahill she was unhappy being rostered for duty in the hyperbaric unit - which treats divers with the bends.
She had no formal post-graduate qualification, and should only work there under the formal oversight of a trained hyperbaric specialist, she said.
She based her view on New Zealand Medical Council (NZMC) advice to her, saying it was unethical for her to do the work, and it would jeopardise her medical protection insurance.
Dr Ross-Taylor told Ms Cahill "for those reasons, I hereby withdraw from hyperbaric call, with immediate effect".
Ms Cahill responded that under her contract, Dr Ross-Taylor could only vary her services by mutual agreement and "I do not agree to this variation".
Dr Ross-Taylor became distressed and unable to work. Ms Cahill terminated her contract two weeks later, on December 17 2007.
The Defence Force argued to the ERA that Dr Ross-Taylor was not an employee, as she worked under an independent contractor agreement (ICA).
But Mr Robinson said while Dr Ross-Taylor did work under an ICA, in practice she performed set hours on hospital-prepared rosters.
Her meal breaks were rostered by the hospital, and her tools, material, equipment and patients all supplied by it.
She was under the "very significant and very real control" of the Defence Force, he said.
"I conclude such control was characteristic and typical of an employment."
He rejected Defence Force submissions that Dr Ross-Taylor contributed to her personal grievance by refusing to disclose and misrepresenting her Medical Council advice.
The Defence Force also argued claims she was not trained or competent to work in the hyperbaric unit were false.
It said she had refused to cooperate with the hospital, had acted in bad faith, and was uncommunicative.
Mr Robinson did not accept any of those arguments.
- NZPA
