SPCA to pay $ 20K for unjustified dismissal

File photo
Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly

The SPCA has been told to pay a former personnel member $ 20,000 in compensation and $ 9192 in lost wages, after the labor relations authority discovered that it had been unjustifiably dismissed.

The worker was a veterinary nurse who worked for the SPCA as coordinator of the kennel for five years, even in the roles of team leaders, before being fired for serious behavior.

The SPCA said that it had not been able to administer or register the treatments administered to the animals under their care, and could not administer prescribed medications of the ear to a dog.

There were several incidents in the course of 2023, which led to her to lose her job.

In January, he had taken a dog home in a promotion agreement. When he returned it, he could not put the required weight. He had left the dog with a neighbor as he left and had been low, possibly because other dogs ate the food.

She was invited to a disciplinary meeting on violations of her employment agreement in relation to the care and well -being of animals.

Almost a month later, he was given a formal written warning and conducted a six -week performance improvement plan.

For May of that year, it had become a leader of the largest animal assistant team, Canine, due to restructuring.

She shared an office with her manager, but when her manager was in meetings, she could not access her computer.

Finally he caught the attention of his manager who had not registered treatments on his computer in the SPCA system. This was a problem because it could lead to animals to receive double doses.

Its manager expressed concern with her that she lacked administrative tasks and did not maintain adequate records. They sent an email with three pages of concerns.

In September, she was invited to another meeting to discuss her lack of administration or record the breakdown treatments and fleas, not make sure the dogs were de -beacted, without maintaining the daily schedule and arriving late to work twice.

At the end of the month they told him that the SPCA had made a preliminary decision that they would say goodbye to it. He was given the opportunity to provide comments he made, but was fired on November 20.

The employee argued that the decision to finish it was not justified or appropriate fair.

She said the SPCA had trusted her responses at a preliminary meeting, when she was nervous and unpremed, instead of the formal meeting.

She argued that she was not aware of the medications for the fall of the ear, the SPCA said it was lost, and this should not be a reason for a finding of serious behavior or serious negligence.

The formal warning he received in February was not similar and should not have affected the finding, he said.

The SPCA argued that it had many opportunities to be aware of the nature and seriousness of what was happening and that the process was fair.

He said he did not accept his explanation of why he had not registered treatments because he could have drawn his laptop from the shared office or used another device.

He said that he should have followed the dog’s treatment plan, the medications had been left on his desk and admitted that he forgot to track the medication and forgot to make a delivery before going with an annual license.

Accusations not properly investigated

The member of the authority, Natasha Szeto, said that SPCA did not investigate the accusations full or fairly.

He pointed out that the staff member did not receive a complete list of specific lost treatments until after having discussed it at least twice with his manager. That meant that it was confused about what medications were spoken and if the problem had been solved.

Szeto said that the SPCA did not sufficiently investigate the accusations about the ear because he never established that the medicine was prescribed, and did not confirm that the medicine was placed on his desk, or when.

He did not confirm when the medicine was discovered and why and did not confirm the custom and practice in relation to the monitoring of the veterinarian visits. The spreadsheet where the recipes were registered was not verified.

Szeto said that no evidence of evidence was considered.

For the plaintiff, the impact of the loss of employment was “devastating.” As a veterinary nurse, it had been a dream job.

While he had found another job, he was in a different field and paid a minimum wage.

Szeto said the compensation of $ 20,000 was appropriate.

The SPCA argued that it was a charitable organization that depended on donations and financing and this could damage it and have an impact on its charitable purpose.

But Szeto said there was not enough evidence of this.

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