Man sacked for Paris Hilton email gets $11,700 compo

A Christchurch manager sacked for opening a sexually explicit email picture of socialite Paris Hilton has won $11,700 in compensation.

Boise business development manager John Coull lost his job after asking a workmate to email a picture of Kiwi supermodel Rachel Hunter from Playboy magazine.

The workmate sent the image but also forwarded a sexually explicit picture of Hilton, which Mr Coull opened twice. That led to Coull's sacking, in April 2004.

He challenged the decision in the Employment Relations Authority and has been awarded a $11,700 payout for lost earnings, humiliation and loss of dignity.

Mr Coull said he had been expecting "some scantily clad pictures of Rachel Hunter". He opened the other image, was "shocked" and closed it, though he opened it again later in the day, he said.

The image of Rachel Hunter did not figure in the sacking.

The company said Mr Coull, an employee of 13 years with an "exemplary record", was sacked to be consistent with the dismissal of other employees for having the Hilton email picture on their computers.

Mr Coull did not pass the emails on to anyone else, but did not delete them, or send an email to his workmate telling him to stop sending such emails.

Mr Coull said he and his wife were devastated and embarrassed by the sacking and felt stigmatised.

Authority member Helen Doyle said Mr Coull was not made "sufficiently aware" of the company's rule of dealing with offensive emails.

He had acted "unwisely" but his behaviour did not warrant summary dismissal.

- nzpa