Goff claims on former staffer are false

Stuff reported in June:

Auckland mayor Phil Goff’s assertion that he swiftly “removed” a staff member for leaking information, doesn’t match the former employee’s version.

The ex-employee told Stuff they had not leaked, not been accused of leaking, and left amicably in Goff’s second week to take up another job as previously arranged.

Goff claimed that he “removed a staff member within days of being made mayor” during an interview with Stuff on Thursday. The mayor did not identify the former staff member. 

I’ve been looking into this, and have now seen several documents that conclusively back up the former staffer, and disprove Goff’s claims.

The documents I have seen are:

1. A redundancy form for the employee in question with a termination date of 31 October 2016
2. A departure form for the employee in question which states redundancy as the reason for leaving
3. A letter from the Chief of Staff dated 6 October 2016 (dated two days before the election) that states the employee will finish work on 31 October 2016 and acknowledging that if Goff wins the employee will make himself available for a couple of weeks until 31 October
4. A final pay slip showing redundancy termination payment

So there is absolutely no doubt that the staffer was not “removed” by Goff, as Goff claimed. The staffer was on a contract that expired with the former Mayor. He agreed to help out for two weeks if Goff won, and did so. He left as scheduled on 31 October, which is the date that had been agreed before Goff was Mayor.