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Tainui chief executive and former MP Tukoroirangi Morgan is embroiled in controversy again - this time a trust he managed has been ordered to pay a sacked doctor more than $10,000 compensation.
The case also raised questions over the way the trust ran a medical clinic in Manurewa.
Dr Tane Taylor was fired by Raukura Hauora o Tainui in June last year, after almost 10 years as the "face" of the trust's Health Clinic on Hill Rd.
Morgan, as acting regional manager of the trust, wrote Dr Taylor a letter accusing him of threatening another manager with a staff walk-out and setting up a medical practice in direct competition with the clinic.
Dr Taylor was fired a few weeks later for "actively undermining" the trust, and for being so "antagonistic" and "hostile" towards management that he could not keep his job.
Last week the GP won his claims of unjustified suspension and dismissal and was awarded lost wages, as well as $15,000 compensation for hurt and humiliation.
Employment Relations Authority member Leon Robinson reduced the awards by one-third to take into account some failures on Dr Taylor's part. During the hearing, Dr Taylor hit back at his former employers, saying that his reputation had been "sullied" by board members, including Morgan. He also said that for at least two years, he and other doctors "had concerns about Raukura's management and considered the workplace dangerous".
"The working environment is very volatile and unsafe. From my own observations I wouldn't be surprised if Trust Health is financially non-viable or very close to it," he wrote in a letter to Wayne McLean, the trust's chief executive officer.
Dr Taylor wanted to set up his own trust with some of his colleagues, and made Raukura a "guesstimate" offer of between $85,000 and $100,000 for the clinic. He hinted that there would be a "significant staff exodus" if things did not change.
Raukura turned him down - and two weeks later, with a letter from Morgan, the allegations that Dr Taylor had a conflict of interest and had threatened the trust began.
He was suspended on June 12 and that same day, management held a meeting to tell all his colleagues the reason behind the suspension.
Dr Taylor said he was "very upset" by this and was further devastated to hear from his lawyer, two weeks later, that he had lost his job.
Robinson said the way the trust fired Taylor was "defective" and "unfair".
Evidence used was inadequate, insufficient, redundant and unsubstantiated, he ruled.
Robinson also found Dr Taylor had not been entirely honest with his former bosses - he never told them who else was involved with the new trust, which was a breach of good faith.
The Herald on Sunday left messages with Raukura's Hamilton and Auckland offices, emailed Morgan and visited his Te Atatu Peninsula home on Friday. Morgan did not return any of these messages and it is understood he was at a tangi yesterday.
The Herald on Sunday was told by office staff to call Bill Martin, who worked in human resources for the trust, but he did not return calls and the trust's lawyer said he could not comment on the case. Dr Taylor could not be contacted last week. He has move addresses and his lawyer, Penny Swarbrick, did not return messages.
