Max Whitehead: Employment law expert on the questions raised by Dame Noeline Taurua's first round of interviews

One expert has made a suggestion Netball New Zealand could be breaching employer obligations in events, including Noeline Taurua's suspension.

The Silver Ferns coach is being reinstated, after being stood down in September over player concerns.

She says she still doesn’t know why - and and has revealed there was no investigation.

Employment expert Max Whitehead says Netball New Zealand shouldn't have acted on this if it couldn't name players or complaints.

"The employer has an obligation on good faith and a natural justice to provide her with a name - and what the allegations are."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The only drive show you can trust to ask the question,
which we get the answers, find a fact sing and
give the analysis. Here the duplicy Ellen Drive with One
New Zealand and the Power of Satellite Mobile News orgsv.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Afternoon. Dame Nolean Toto's latest round of interviews has raised
more questions than answers. She says she doesn't know why
she was stood down from her job. In real simple terms,
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
And I can't tell you, and that's that's by truth.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
And with regards to how she managed to get the
job back and whether she was cleared of whatever allegations
were leveled against her, there's been no investigation.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
What I am happy with is that I'm I'm reinstated
and I'm looking forward to the Commonwealth game.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
In the last half hour, Neple New Zealand has sent
us a statement attributed to Dame Nolene saying the review
did not clarifying her statements from this morning, by the way,
saying the review did not get into specific details or
allegations in a way that could identify individual players, So
those are the details I don't have. Netborre New Zealand
has declined to come on the show to talk about it.
Max Whitehead is an employment expert.

Speaker 3 (01:10):
H Max, Hi, the he do?

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Max, I'm well, can you stand down an employee without
telling them specifically what they're accused.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
Of the answer to that is no, you cannot do
that because, particularly somebody high profile, like in this circumstances,
because everything's exaggerated and everything's you know, ratchet up on
the fact that she's high profile, it's costing her reputation
and the fact that the employer has an obligation on

(01:40):
good faith and a natural justice to provide her with
a name and people of what the allegations are. If
what she's saying is correct and she hasn't been notified
of that, then there's a complete breach of the obligation
of an employer here. If they are employers, so what
about and so not even if she's a contractor, Heather,

(02:02):
then they've still got obligations to treat her in you know,
in the fairness of the whole situation.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
So what about the argument they've obviously leveled to her,
which is, we can't tell you the specific allegations because
doing that would be naming the players, and we've promised
the player's anonymity.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
Well, that's the problem. They shouldn't have even raised it
and they even acted on it. Because I coach a
coach HR people all the time. Do not accept confidential promises,
don't engage with them. Because if a person says, can
I keep this confidential, but I want to talk about
so and so, well you've got to say, well, if

(02:43):
you want us to fix it, then you need to
let us know because we're going to have to confront
that individual, okay, and we have a legal obligation to
notify them in natural justice what the who their accuser
is and what their accusations are.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
So then when she says that there was no investigation
for being reinstated, that explains this, doesn't it? There was
no investigation necessary because they simply changed their mind about
standing her down. They realized that.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
I guarantee this is your next point. More then, why
was she stood down? Well?

Speaker 2 (03:13):
And why was she stood I mean.

Speaker 3 (03:15):
Really, it seems ridiculous she stood down for something that's
not that important to do an investigation about.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
Okay, So, Max, on a scale of one to ten,
one being this is like only a tiny stuff up.
Ten it's a massive employment stuff up. Where are we sitting.

Speaker 3 (03:29):
I think we're sitting at about an eight or a
seven and eight because the facts on this one is
is because it's such a pigh profile individuals and because
the whole nation are watching closely, then I would say
that this is actually ratured right up to the to
the top almost yeah, because that bigger pardoner.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Do heads need to roll for this?

Speaker 3 (03:55):
I would think so. I mean you would think that
a netball New Zealand would be getting legal before they
did this, and if they have, well, this legal advice
isn't up to scratch because this is fundamental of any
employment advisor out there would not be telling people to
advising an employer or even a principle and like if

(04:16):
she's just a contractor to conduct themselves in such a way,
particularly for public watching.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
Over unbelievable Max Listen, thanks very much, appreciate your time,
Max Whitehead, Employment Expert.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
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