| Restrictions | OK |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | Employment Relations Authority - Wellington |
| Reference No | WA 163/07 |
| Hearing date | 4 Dec 2007 |
| Determination date | 06 December 2007 |
| Member | D Asher |
| Location | Wanganui |
| Parties | Cooper v Mars New Zealand Ltd t/a Mars Petcare |
| Summary | UNJUSTIFIED DISADVANTAGE – Applicant given written warning for non-attendance because of genuine ill-health – Absent 23 days over 10 months due to illness – When sick leave exhausted used annual leave - Genuineness of absences not challenged – Warning to remain in place for 12 months – Applicant claimed disadvantaged because concerned if sick again would lose job - Respondent wrong to use misconduct process – Warning unjustified - Absences for genuine reasons and no suggestion of deliberate breach of attendance obligations – However, applicant suffered no, or negligible, disadvantage to justify remedy – Alternatively compensation would be negligible because only first warning and would not have survived scrutiny had respondent tried to act on it – Applicant accepted respondent could justifiably have raised concerns about absenteeism – Applicant would enjoy benefit of public determination – Machine operator |
| Result | Application granted ; Costs reserved |
| Main Category | Personal Grievance |
| Number of Pages | 7 |
| PDF File Link: | wa 163_07.pdf [pdf 25 KB] |