Other Stuff
Manager blamed for being stripped of job
Saturday July 22, 2006
A Wellington strip club's bar manager made an error in judgment when he touched
a female dancer's bottom and was responsible for his own firing, the Employment
Relations Authority has found.
Douglas Prince claimed he was fired unfairly from the Mermaid Bar in Courtenay
Place for touching the dancer's bottom.
He said the touching was an accident but later said he was trying to get her
attention so he could put a bottle of whisky away in a safe where she was
standing. He eventually acknowledged he had made an "error in judgment".
The dancer, Bridget Rennie, described the incident as an intentional grope and
was so distressed that she reacted loudly, according to the authority's
decision. With the help of a co-worker, she prepared a written statement for the
club's owners.
"I [Bridget Rennie] have been working at Mermaids for the last couple of weeks
and claim that on 11-5-05 at approximately 5.40am Doug grabbed my bum near the
DJ box," she said in the statement.
"I let him know that it wasn't appropriate for a manager to be fondling the
girls, and I wasn't going to accept this kind of behaviour."
Mr Prince apologised in writing, but Ms Rennie refused the apology.
The club's directors, John and Michael Chow, fired Mr Prince in June last year
for serious misconduct.
Authority member Paul Stapp concluded on Wednesday that the Chows had jumped the
gun by firing Mr Prince. They could have taken other measures, such as seeking
counselling for the man, and should have followed appropriate procedures to deal
with the misconduct claim.
"The respondent did not carry out a proper investigation to get a fair
conclusion," Mr Stapp said. But he concluded that Mr Prince was responsible for
his error in judgment for touching the dancer and was therefore 100 per cent
responsible for his own firing.
Mr Stapp refused to award Mr Prince compensation but awarded him $1960 in costs
and $70 in fees.
- NZPA