Employment Relations Authority member Geoff O'Sullivan, on 7 September 2026, dismissed a facilities manager's contract and redundancy claims over his 2021 vaccine mandate dismissal.
The facilities manager had worked at Ōtūmoetai College since January 2018, managing a team of four caretakers and a cleaner at the school, which had more than 2,000 students and 260 staff. He was dismissed on 30 November 2021 after declining to be vaccinated against Covid-19, following changes to the COVID-19 Public Health Response (Vaccinations) Order 2021 requiring on-site education staff to be vaccinated. A Board subcommittee had assessed that the order covered any staff working on site while students were present, and he was told that from 16 November 2021 he could not attend work until he had received his first dose.
He initially raised a personal grievance alleging unjustified dismissal and disadvantage, then amended his claim to drop those grounds altogether. In their place, he pursued breach of contract, unfair bargaining, unilateral variation of his employment agreement, health and safety, good faith and redundancy claims against the Ōtūmoetai College Board. Combined, the claims sought more than $171,000, alongside a written reference and an independent investigation into the school's health and safety processes.
The Board argued the vaccination requirement stemmed from the Government's order rather than any decision of its own, and that the claims effectively challenged the dismissal...
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