NZ Police ordered to pay former officer $81,000

The sacked officer will also receive $10,500 compensation. File photo

The New Zealand Police have been ordered to pay a former officer more than $81,000 in legal fees after a court battle over his dismissal from the force.

Former senior constable Gary Burrowes was dismissed from the police after an incident involving a woman leaving a nightclub in Christchurch in 2010.

Mr Burrowes denied applying a choke hold on the woman, but was dismissed in October 2011 after an investigation.

Judge Bruce Corkill in the Employment Court found the decision to sack him was not a conclusion a fair and reasonable employer could have reached, and police were ordered to pay Mr Burrowes' lost wages and superannuation entitlements.

They were also told to pay him compensation of $10,500.

An application by Mr Burrowes to be reinstated to the force was thrown out by Judge Corkill.

But in a decision released today, Judge Corkill addressed the issue of legal costs - and ordered the police to pay Mr Burrowes' costs of $81,866.64 because his legal challenge in the Employment Court was successful.

The figure is only a fraction of what Mr Burrowes told the court he had been invoiced by his lawyer - a total of $178,067 for working on the case.

Police were invoiced $257,606 for their lawyers' work.

Mr Burrowes had already paid $19,000 to the court as a stay execution on the Employment Relations Authority costs order, which will be refunded with interest to him.