Appeal for reinstatement

Press, 18 March 1982, Page 4

Appeal for reinstatement

A 58-year-old man broke down in tears in the Arbitration Court yesterday when he told the Court that since he was dismissed from his job in June last year he had been unable to get another position.

The Court, comprising Judge D. S. Castle and Messrs J. A. Boomer and J. B. Walton, granted interim suppression of the names of witnesses and the firm which dismissed the man. It reserved its decision after hearing evidence. The man applied to the Court for reinstatement -to clear his name” and sought compensation for lost wages. The Court granted him leave to apply to the Court after hearing evidence that his union had withdrawn from the case after a personal grievance hearing which had been inconclusive. The man was dismissed on the grounds that he had allegedly indecently assaulted a company executive's wife at a social function. The man denied the assault.

Evidence was given by the company executive that the man asked his wife for a dance. She had declined. The man had then put one hand on her shoulder and with the other hand gripped her breast while pushing his face

against hers, said the company executive. At this he had picked the man up by his hair, and taken him out of the way of his wife. The man then called him a “capitalist pig” and said that he had been “after me” for years, said the company executive. The man had followed him as he walked away to recover from the incident. “Finding him close on my heels I felt he would be upon me so I stopped. He grabbed hold of my tie and tried to strangle me so I pushed him onto the floor and he pulled me on top of him,” said the company executive. The man was dismissed when he next appeared at work. The applicant, however, alleged in his evidence that he had not laid hands on the. executive’s wife, though he may have put his hand on her shoulder. The executive had grabbed him, punched him and put his foot on his throat, said the applicant. He said that he had not been either interviewed or prosecuted by the police over the incident. The executive said that he had not complained to the police because he did not want the company's name to be dragged into a court hearing with resultant publicity.