Latest news with #TonkinTaylor
RNZ News
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
Midday Report Essentials for Wednesday 21 May 2025
In today's episode, The ACT party asked for advice on the full range of possible punishments for Te Pati Maori MPs following last year's Treaty Principles haka - including imprisonment, RNZ today revealed some Southland Hospital staff have been told they could only talk to each other for a maximum of five minutes a day, The Free Speech Union says Tonkin + Taylor is wrong to investigate its employee, after he heckled Winston Peters on his way to work yesterday morning and A Maori production company and film festival has been recognised at the Cannes Film Festival in France.
RNZ News
21-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Peters heckling: 'It is absolutely a sackable offence'
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." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
21-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Employer of Winston Peter's hecker launches investigation
A Wellington worker's heated exchange with Winston Peters at a very public press conference has landed him hot water with his employer, who happens to do a fair bit of work for the government. The heckler was wearing a lanyard that indentified his employer as engineering company Tonkin and Taylor. It raises a heap of questions about what people can and can't say when they are off the clock. Employment law specialist Jennifer Mills spoke to Lisa Owen.
RNZ News
21-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Employer of man who heckled Winston Peters criticised after launching probe into 'disruption' he caused
The employer of a man who heckled Winston Peters during a press conference has drawn criticism after apologising for his behaviour and saying it had launched an investigation. The rail minister, joined by Transport Minister Chris Bishop, on Tuesday announced the government would spend more than $600 million to upgrade the country's rail network as part of this year's Budget. At the end of the press conference at the Wellington Railway Station a member of the public heckled Peters as he was answering questions about the potential punishment to be given to Te Pāti Māori MPs set to be debated in Parliament later that day, yelling "what a load of bollocks" and prompting an argument between the pair. Peters told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking on Wednesday morning he would not feel bad if the heckler lost his job. He said the man's behaviour was "disgraceful" and had become far too prevalent in New Zealand. In a statement on Tuesday evening, the man's employer - engineering company Tonkin + Taylor - apologised, and said a code of conduct investigation was underway. "At Tonkin + Taylor we take our responsibilities as a major New Zealand employer seriously. We do not condone behaviour that falls short of our Code of Conduct. "We sincerely apologise to the event organisers, attendees, the Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister Bishop, for the disruption caused." Winston Peters reacts to a heckler. Photo: RNZ But the Free Speech Union said 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." Hanne said the Free Speech Union would be contacting Tonkin + Taylor, "urging them to respect their employee's speech rights, and not to set a poor example to other Kiwi businesses". "The heckler was wearing a Tonkin + Taylor lanyard at the time, but it's common practice for employers to ask employees to wear items like lanyards to help with workplace identification for reasons such as security. "Companies can't have it both ways: requiring employees to be identifiable for branding or security purposes, but not when expressing lawful personal views on their own time." Tonkin + Taylor declined to make further comment, as the matter was under investigation. We are aware of an incident at a media event at Wellington Railway Station this morning. We have confirmed the person involved is a Tonkin + Taylor employee. We are investigating in line with our Code of Conduct and for privacy reasons we won't be commenting any further. At Tonkin + Taylor we take our responsibilities as a major New Zealand employer seriously. We do not condone behaviour that falls short of our Code of Conduct. We sincerely apologise to the event organisers, attendees, the Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister Bishop, for the disruption caused. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
21-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Free Speech Union says Tonkin + Taylor wrong to investigate employee
politics employment about 1 hour ago The Free Speech Union said Tonkin + Taylor was wrong to investigate an employee who heckled Winston Peters on his way to work on Tuesday. The Free Speech Union's Nick Hanne spoke to Charlotte Cook.
