Loudly heckling a politician at a public event is "absolutely" cause for dismissal if it clearly tarnishes the employer, says an employment law specialist.
A Wellington worker's heated exchange with Winston Peters at a public press conference has landed him hot water with his employer, who does work for the government.
The insults flew as the minister for rail was detailing a $600 million funding boost for rail at a press conference at Wellington Train station during the morning commuter rush yesterday.
The man interrupted the conference, loudly accusing the deputy prime minister of talking bollocks.
The heckler was wearing a lanyard that identified his employer as engineering firm Tonkin +Taylor. The company issued an apology, saying it was investigating in line with its code of conduct and did not condone behaviour that fell short of that code.
Winston Peters responds to a heckler during a media conference at Wellington Railway Station. Photo: RNZ
The incident has raised a number of questions about what people can or can not say when they are off the clock.
Employment law specialist Jennifer Mills told Checkpoint that workers were only off the clock if their conduct could not be connected to your employer.
"Where your employer can be readily identified, you're essentially acting as an agent for your employer and there is then the opportunity to bring your employer into disrepute, as is the case in this scenario, where the individual was clearly wearing a lanyard marked Tonkin + Taylor.
"The first question for any employer in that situation would be 'is that conduct which has brought us into disrepute?'. In this case it has, so the next question is - 'is that serious conduct that would warrant summary dismissal or some kind of penalty?'."
She said for it to warrant summary dismissal, it would have to be conduct which deeply impaired the trust and confidence in the employment relationship, "and I think that we certainly have that here".
"In my assessment, this was conduct that constituted serious misconduct. It is absolutely a sackable offence, and the appropriate penalty is dismissal."
She said the only way the worker could keep their job is if they made a "sincere expression of remorse", but the speed of the company's apology showed it had already decided the behaviour had crossed the line.
The employee may have had a case if they were not wearing the company lanyard, said Mills, as it would be difficult to connect his behaviour to his employer.
"In those circumstances, it would be unlikely that his employer could say that we have brought us into disrepute."
She advised anybody engaging in such behaviour to remove anything that would connect them to their company.
Mills said she thought Peters handled the situation "remarkably well" by de-escalating the situation.
Earlier today, Peters pushed back on those framing the "expletive-laden vitriol" as a freedom of speech issue.
"I've never heard such filthy language out in the public like that - foul, filthy language - and if you think that's free speech, you couldn't be more wrong," he said.
Asked whether the worker should lose his job, Peters said that was an employment matter for the company.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins told reporters Peters did not seem to be focused on the big issues facing the country.
"I've been interrupted by protesters before, it's a bit annoying when it happens, but it happens," Hipkins said.
"That's the nature of living in a free democracy, where people have free speech, these sorts of things are going to happen."
The Free Speech Union said today the incident had nothing to do with Tonkin + Taylor, and apologising off the bat set a "dangerous precedent" and sent the message expressing political opinions in public was unacceptable.
"Individuals don't forfeit their right to express political views just because they have a job," spokesperson Nick Hanne said in a statement.
"Employers don't own employees' time when they are commuting to work, and the choice to heckle Winston Peters has nothing to do with Tonkin + Taylor."
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