A golf coach who was “humiliated” after being dismissed for not getting the Covid vaccine will receive more than $15,000 from his former employer after successfully arguing his dismissal was unjustified.
Benjamin Harwood had worked for Whangamatā Golf Club Incorporated for a little over a year when he was dismissed in December 2021 following the club’s “no jab, no play” policy.
Harwood took the club to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA), arguing that the policy was “unreasonable and unfair” and failed to fairly consider alternatives to dismissal.
Marking an employee, who is primarily outdoors, as a high risk vector for Covid spread is not an isolated case sadly. Also shows people had and continue to have little understanding of how pathogens work.
Regardless, a small win for democracy and principles.