Compensation awarded

Press, 10 March 1988, Page 19

Compensation awarded

' I i PA j' Auckland The Laboui] ! Court has awarded one of its biggest compensation payments to an! airline ; steward charged with)! conspiring to import L.S.D. and supply cocaine. |) ! Mr Rex Casey was employed by Air New Zealand for 10 years when he was arrested on the drug charges on May 1, 1984. He was held in custody for 10 days and more than a ■ year elapsed before criminal ) proceedings against him finished. iMr Casey was acquitted on the LIS.D.i charge and the jury failed to reach agreement on the cocaine charge. The ) latter proceeding was stayed on the direction of the SolicitorGeneral. j! In a decision released this week by Judge Dan Finnigan, the Court ordered Air New Zealand to reinstate Mr Casey as soon as practical and pay him $32,000 in compensation and loss of wages. i The case was heard in the Labour Court at Auckland on February 23 and 24.

| The Court found the dismissal had been dissociated from the charges levelled against Mr Casey. I It said Mr Casey

appeared to have been linked with other Air New Zealand employees involved in a drugs affair that caused the employer considerable concern. The Court found the employer ' based the dismissal on Mr Casey’s failure to report for rostered duties. It found this ' was unreasonable when initially the worker was in custody and then had his passport confis-, cated. It said the employee .-should have been given the opportunity to state his case and there was no evidence to suggest the length and quality of his service had been taken into account. Evidence had been put before the court that the union secretary, Mr Tom Downey, had discussed Mr Casey’s case with the airline for some . time once the drug charges had been dismissed or withdrawn. Those representations finished with Air New Zealand suggesting he apply for a ground steward’s job. Mr Casey was interviewed for that position on April 1, 1987, and told the next day he was unsuccessful.