Unvaccinated worker given $25,000 after unjustifiable dismissal

An unvaccinated worker was found to have been unjustifiably dismissed and was recently awarded $25,000.

But one of the company’s managers called the decision by the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) “disgusting” and said he will appeal, according to the New Zealand Herald.

The case involved an unvaccinated worker, Paul Larsen, who worked as an installer for Coldrite Refrigeration and Air Conditioning in Hastings. And when the pandemic hit, problems arose.

Work became scarce for unvaccinated staff in early 2022, and more clients began requesting vaccinated workers for safety reasons. Ultimately, just two workers, including Laursen, were unvaccinated at the company.

Back in July 2022, vaccine mandates for border and correction workers in New Zealand ended.

When work became scarcer for Coldrite, he was called into a meeting with managing director Jim Bullock and another manager, and conflicts arose — Laursen alleged he was told by Bullock that he was “brainwashed” and “read too much bullshit on the internet.”

But Bullock said he only told Laursen not too read “too much into what he sees on the internet.”

Ultimately, Laursen was sent a letter confirming he was being given two weeks’ notice of redundancy; he then alleged he had been unjustifiably dismissed.

And the ERA agreed, saying a redundancy requires two essential elements: “The first is that the employer has a position(s) that is potentially surplus to its requirements and the second is that, as a result, that surplus results in the termination of specific individuals employment.”

In the Feb. 7, 2023 decision, Laursen was awarded $24,774, broken down to $14,7740 for lost wages and holiday pay and a further $10,000 for humiliation, loss of dignity, and injury to his feelings.

“What is going on out there is appalling,” Bullock told the New Zealand Herald. “We have got to appeal it.”