Employees involved were either dismissed or received formal warnings
Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has carried out disciplinary action against 10 employees over "inappropriate or unprofessional" conversations on Teams, according to reports.
INZ, which is under the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (MBIE), said the employees disciplined received formal warnings, with a "small" but unspecified number of staff dismissed, Radio New Zealand reported.
Overall, INZ has identified 16 individuals as being involved in the conversations. They were mainly based in Auckland, but there were also staff members from Christchurch, Wellington, and other centres.
The six remaining employees who have yet to receive disciplinary actions are awaiting outcomes this week, according to the RNZ report.
Alison McDonald, INZ deputy secretary, confirmed that the disciplinary actions stem from the conversations the employees had on Teams chats about visa applicants.
The conversations were discovered after the MBIE went through employees' conversations on the platform while it investigated an unrelated complaint.
"I can confirm that there were a small number of inappropriate or unprofessional Teams chats about applicants," McDonald told RNZ in a statement.
"In reviewing these, the content of the messages was not deemed to be of the detail or level necessary to inform any individuals and had no impact on any immigration decisions made. There were no comments about licensed immigration advisers."
In July, eight employees of INZ were stood down for these "inappropriate" conversations on Teams.
McDonald said the conduct of these employees did not meet the expectations on public servants to act professionally and with integrity.
"There is no place for inappropriate or unprofessional communication of any kind in INZ, which is why we have treated these allegations so seriously," she said.
The MBIE's Code of Conduct states employees are expected to act with "fairness, impartiality, courtesy, integrity, and honesty."
"We make sure our actions can withstand public, legal, and parliamentary scrutiny and will enhance MBIE's reputation," it read.
