12 Sep 2016

Hearing into Taranaki polytech dispute begins

8:56 pm on 12 September 2016

A whistleblower who exposed irregularities at a Taranaki polytech has been quizzed at an Employment Relations Authority hearing about whether she could comply with a compliance order.

Western Institute of Technology

Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin

The Western Institute of Technology (Witt) and its former academic director, Christine Fenton, have accused each other of breaching a non-disparagment clause in a settlement between them.

Dr Fenton was made redundant by Witt in 2014, the same year it was forced to withdraw hundreds of qualifications and repay more than $4 million in funding.

The details of the comments are subject to a suppression order.

An authority member, Rachel Larmer, warned Dr Fenton that if a compliance order was issued against her, breaking it would have serious consequences.