Employee sacked after boss hears phone call

Posted January 5th, 2011 by Dr James Pratt

A man who unwittingly insulted his company while his manager was listening over the phone has failed to get interim reinstatement while his case is considered by the Employment Relations Authority (ERA).

Russell Steel was dismissed from his senior sales engineer job with Auckland-based steel pipe manufacturer Steelpipe Limited, where he had worked for 39 years, after he accidently pressed the "speed dial" button on his phone and called his manager, Athol Carr.

Unable to get his attention by speaking loudly and whistling, Mr Carr ended up listening to a conversation between Mr Steel and one of Steelpipe's suppliers in which Mr Steel insulted the company's operations manager, criticised Steelpipe's products and services and made commercially sensitive comments he was not authorised to.

In the letter of dismissal, Steelpipe general manager James Hawkes said he had "lost all trust and confidence" in Mr Steel and was particularly disappointed by his attempt to cast aspersions on Mr Carr's integrity and good character.

Mr Steel claimed he was only "venting" and sought interim reinstatement to his job pending the ERA's determination of his personal grievance application.

But the ERA ruled that the personal nature of Mr Steel's comments about his colleagues - with whom his job demanded a good working relationship - meant it did not seem practicable for him to be reinstated.

The ERA will meet on February 17 to consider whether Mr Steel should be permanently reinstated.

www.stuff.co.nz

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