Chief Executive calls out staff abuse

South Waikato District Council Chief Executive Susan Law has moved to call out an increase in the occurrences and severity of abuse being directed towards Council staff.

Law said personal attacks on staff, whether online or in person, were unfair, concerning and completely unacceptable.

“We have many talented and committed staff who do their best for the District every day of the week and none deserve to be abused or threatened for simply doing their job,” Law said.

Most recently it has come to Council’s attention that inappropriate conduct was directed towards a well-respected staff member’s whānau, in which a member of the public suggested comments from the staff member’s family raised an employment issue.

“There is no employment issue with regards to whānau or friends of staff members expressing their right to free speech,” Law said.

“We live in a democratic country where we value freedom of speech. It is morally reprehensible to imply or threaten a staff member’s employment due to their family member exercising their right to free speech in a public forum.

“Whānau and friends of council staff are free to exercise their individual opinions and thoughts lawfully and freely like any other member of the public.

“There is no employment code of conduct breach arising from this and it is entirely inappropriate to imply and threaten a staff member’s current and or future employment status based on what their family member has said.

“It is also misleading to imply that an employee could lose their job if there are different Elected Members around the Council table in the future.

“Elected Members have only one employee, the Chief Executive, who under the legislation is responsible for the structures and employment of staff required to deliver services and priorities for the Council.”