eyelash growth

When tree feller Todd Douglas was smacked on the face by a colleague with a safety helmet, his boss told him he hoped the helmet wasn't broken.

Now the Employment Relations Authority has ordered that Christchurch firm BA Logging Ltd pay mr Douglas $24,750 in lost wages for unjustified dismissal plus a further $10,000 for humiliation, loss of dignity and injury to feelings.

The ERA said mr Douglas was hired as a digger operator for the tree felling and firewood business, but he also operated a chainsaw.

The incident that triggered his claim started when mr Douglas was driving a ute with two colleagues as passengers.

He said when he reached for his lighter, he found it and the nearby door handle were covered in grease. He believed colleague Shane, who was in the back seat, had deliberated applied grease on the items.

He said he reached behind for one of the rags normally on the back seat and wiped his hand.

“He then heard an expletive and was hit on the side of the face with a safety helmet,” the ERA decision said. “The 'rag' was actually Shane's jersey and he had taken offence at mr Douglas using it to wipe the grease from his hands.”

Mr Douglas was left with a lump on his left eyebrow, concussion and recurring headaches.

When he got home he texted his boss Brendon Adcock advising he had been assaulted.

The response read: “there really aint much can do mayb you should have used rag instead of his top still no reason to throw things around hope hat ok and not broke start costing money.”

He said he asked mr Adcock the next day to discuss the matter with Shane, but his boss did not appear to take it seriously. He told mr Douglas that he spoke to Shane and that if he laid a finger on mr Douglas, it would become a police matter.

Mr Douglas' next complaint that Shane did not get a warning got the following reply: “yes i know but way it is you may have to harden up a bit and i will put something on paper and send out with pay slip to him we not making money biggest problem to me.”

ERA member Mike Loftus found mr Douglas' resignation from the firm was in fact a constructive dismissal, because of multiple breaches of the employment agreement by mr Adcock, who did not turn up at the ERA hearing.

Mr Adcock failed dismally in attempting to fulfil his duty of providing a safe workplace.

“There is no evidence that he treated the matter with anything other than disdain,” said mr Loftus, citing mr Adcock placing potential damage to the helmet above that of his staff as just one of the examples.

Humiliated tree feller wins nearly $35,000