'Aggressive' Truckie Wins $13K

The Employment Relations Authority (ERA) has determined that Clayton Cochrane was unjustifiably dismissed as a Driver by Kings Transport and Logistics NZ. Cochrane was awarded over $13,000 in lost wages and compensation.

Kings had dismissed Cochrane claiming serious misconduct because he breached road safety rules and used “aggressive and offensive language” toward a client.

During a work break Cochrane took his partner and 3 month old daughter to an appointment with WINZ in the company vehicle. Initially he parked on the opposite side of the road from the WINZ office. The child was removed from her car seat, however Cochrane then decided to move the vehicle to the other side of the road. The child was not restrained for this. A member of the public reported this to the police and the police phoned the company.

Two days later Cochrane was sent to collect some damaged timber, claimed to be damaged by the chain Cochrane had used when lifting the timber. Kings told Cochrane he would have to pay the $634.56 they had been invoiced for the damage. Cochrane denied being responsible for the damage.

When Cochrane arrived to collect the timber he was told it had been resold. An argument ensued with a supervisor. During the exchange he asked the supervisor (a man) if he had his period and called him “an idiot”. Cochrane admitted asking the supervisor: “Are you on the rags?”

A disciplinary process was conducted before Cochrane was dismissed, however it had a number of deficiencies. Cochrane was not given reasonable notice that dismissal was a possible outcome, the enquiry into the events was inadequate, the outcome of dismissal was predetermined, some of those involved in the decision making did not hear directly from Cochrane and the information available did not support a finding of serious misconduct. These significant shortfalls resulted in the finding of unjustified dismissal.

The message once again is the importance of following a fair process and meeting the requirements set of in the Employment Relations Act. Failure to do this will almost always inevitably result in an unjustified dismissal judgement and an award for lost wages and compensation.