Rape convicted counsellor found to be unfairly sacked

A counsellor sacked because his previous convictions for a gang-related rape jeopardised his employer's funding has been awarded $9000 damages.

The Employment Relations Authority ruled that Paul Sweeney was unjustifiably sacked in April 2002 by Te Korowai Hauora O Hauraki, a trust based in Hauraki and Coromandel, which provides health services for Maori.

The authority also ordered that the trust reinstate Mr Sweeney as a counsellor and pay him three months in lost wages.

At an investigation meeting last December, trust chief executive Hugh Kininmonth said he hired Mr Sweeney in August 2001.

Mr Sweeney had been convicted and imprisoned in 1986 as a party to a gang-related rape. Since then he had trained as a counsellor and had been free of alcohol and drugs for many years.

Mr Kininmonth said he had discussed Mr Sweeney's employment with Child, Youth and Family because the trust received funding from the agency.

On September 24, 2001, he received a letter from CYF advising that having a staff member with convictions for sex and violent crimes amounted to non-compliance with the trust's contract with CYF.

He wrote back seeking agreement that the trust continue to employ Mr Sweeney and receive funding as it was confident he would not reoffend.

But CYF said Mr Sweeney had to go for the trust to retain CYF accreditation. On April 26, 2002, the trust decided it had no option but to dismiss Mr Sweeney.

Authority member Marija Urlich ruled that there was no substantive reason for Mr Sweeney's dismissal as the trust's own documents showed it did not know if the sacking would preserve its relationship with CYF.

The trust could not show it had conducted a fair investigation.

- NZPA