More on Critic suspension

I blogged earlier this week about the Critic editor being suspended.

Salient has some more details on what happened:

The editorial shake-up became public knowledge on Monday, when Fredric’s presence at the Critic office caused Campus Watch, and then police to be called. Senior Sergeant Benn told the Otago Daily Times, ”When the policeman asked him to leave he did so, and that was the end of that.”

Although the reason why the police were called to the office remains unclear, Critic staff filmed the incident, but then later claimed that the file had “corrupted” when Salient requested it. Salient has been told by staff present that Fredric left when asked, and was not “escorted” from the premises, as was reported in the Otago Daily Times.

Fredric wishes to “continue as Critic Editor”, and has sought legal advice on the matter. It is understood that Fredric has lodged a personal grievance claim under the Employment Relations Act, and filed an affidavit of his written evidence in support of the claim on Tuesday.

Where an employer suspends an employee in order to investigate alleged misconduct, the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment advises that “Suspending an employee is a serious action, and due process and consideration should be applied by the employer in instigating a suspension”.

I’ve not seen anything so far to indicate that suspension was a necessary or justifiable step. As I said, this could be a very messy employment issue for OUSA. it is ironic that the worst offfenders when it comes to employees’ rights are unions themselves when they are the employer.

I referred in my earlier post that one of the issues between the OUSA General Manager and the Critic Editor was that the Editor didn’t do anything about an e-mail sent by one of their columnists to the manager of Netsky after he was kept waiting eight hours for an interview. I now have a copy of the e-mail, which is:

Hi, sorry I wasn’t in the office once Boris had finished unwinding from his gig, I’m sure he’s a great guy so don’t worry I wont say anything bad about him. It’s a shame his equipment hadn’t been sorted by the gig though, his voice sounded at times like it was being distorted, almost as bad as if on purpose (plus some bits seemed like they were echoing). I will need to fill that spot on the tv & radio show though, do you mind doing an interview with me? we’re doing a piece about NZ management being shit.

I actually think that is a great piss take e-mail. Netsky is of course known for distorted vocals and echos. I understand the manager didn’t catch on that the columnist was taking the piss! I’d write a far worse e-mail if I was kept waiting for eight hours!