Employment Relations Authority rules disgraced officer be paid $11,250

By Rob Kidd

A disgraced Invercargill police officer who racially abused an Asian security guard has been awarded $11,250 after top brass botched his disciplinary probe.

Constable Jason Te Huia was placed on restricted duties after being charged with using insulting language during a drinking session in Queenstown in September 2016.

He and an associate were refused entry to the casino, which resulted in the off-duty officer’s slew of jibes.

Te Huia told the Korean security guard: "I can smell you ... It smells Asian like a dog," he said.

"You have shoestring eyes ... I see you have no shoestrings in your shoes. Where are your shoestrings? Shoelace eyes. Slant eyes."

He was initially approved for police diversion but Southern District commander Superintendent Paul Basham opposed it, before the deputy commissioner of police made a final refusal.

In May 2017, Te Huia pleaded guilty to the charge and was discharged without conviction after paying the victim $1000.

But his tribulations were only beginning.

Supt Basham originally came to the view Te Huia should be dismissed but in October, after the pair had met, he settled on a final warning with a series of conditions lasting three years. They included removal from the staff competency payment scheme, a bar from improving his rank and expulsion from the Armed Offenders Squad during that time frame.

As part of the agreement, Supt Basham also reserved the right to make public comment about the case.

All those conditions, the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) ruled in a judgement released yesterday, were unjustified.

ERA member Eleanor Tetitaha said Te Huia spent much of 2017 away from work on stress leave as a result of the disciplinary process.

At times, the father of three described himself as being unable to get out of bed and did not return to work until after the decision had been made. He accrued $10,000 in legal bills, the authority heard.

Ms Tetitaha noted the disciplinary sting would have cost Te Huia more than $50,000 as well as emotional stress.

"The inability to achieve any higher ranking has been embarrassing especially when, at times, he was the most experienced officer at the station but had to defer to younger, less experienced colleagues," she said.

"He has always been driven in his career. The conditions were demotivating, making him at times feel like he should do the bare minimum...he accepts he needs to rebuild trust and confidence but needs a light at the end of the tunnel."

Te Huia claimed $20,000 for the treatment by his employers.

The ERA settled on a figure of $11,250.