Dismissal decision upheld by Court

Press, 29 August 1984, Page 6

Dismissal decision upheld by Court

PA Wellington The Arbitration Court has turned down an appeal by a bank officer against her dismissal after she was convicted of using a borrowed licence to hire a car. In a majority decision, the Court said that while

Deborah Jane Lawn had no intention of causing harm to anyone, the dishonesty was of such gravity as to justify dismissal. In November, Miss Lawn, who had then worked for the Bank of New Zealand for four years, had wanted to hire a car to go on holiday with a friend. As she was aged under 21, she had borrowed the driver’s licence of an older friend to show the rental company. After she had hired the car, the rental company discovered the licence was not hers and called the police. Miss Lawn pleaded guilty to a charge of using a document to defraud and was fined. The Court said the bank had learned of Miss Lawn’s conviction and she was dismissed. “On behalf of the bank it was submitted that questions of true or false iden-

tity and the integrity of signatures are extremely important in banking,” the decision said. “It was submitted that the bank cannot have trust in this employee who, for some minor advantage to herself, was prepared to misrepresent her identity, falsely take on the identity of a real person, and make a signature which purported to be the signature of that real person.” Although the offence was unrelated to Miss Lawn’s employment, the Court accepted the dishonest conduct was of such gravity as to justify dismissal, even after taking into account Miss Lawn’s previous service and good conduct. A Court member, Mr E. W. J. Ball, dissented from the decision, saying that the decision to dismiss Miss Lawn was extreme and unjust.