Second PGC man settles employment dispute
A second former PGC executive has won his Employment Court battle over bonuses.
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Hawke’s Bay
A second former PGC [NZX: PGC] executive has won his Employment Court battle over bonuses.
Earlier this week NBR Online reported how former PGC financial controller James West reached a settlement with his former employer George Kerr over a bonus dispute.
Now it can be revealed that former managing director John Duncan has also received a settlement negotiated once the matter reached the courts.
The Employment Court in Auckland entered a consent judgment in favour of Mr Duncan for $475,000.
The deal was negotiated by respective counsel for Mr Kerr and Mr Duncan at the outset of the court hearing, in a similar 11th hour manner to Mr West’s settlement
Both men were let go from PGC during a so called internal disciplinary investigation about the way bonuses were accounted for in the PGC balance sheet.
This was at a time when PGC short of cash, according to evidence presented during Mr West’s opening case in Christchurch on Monday.
The disputes came against the background of Mr Kerr’s takeover of PGC when he dispatched a phalanx of Deloitte accountants from Auckland to take over the Christchurch office.
Both cases related to bonus shares worth $1.9 million that were subsequently reversed.
The former executives sued.
Last year the Employment Relations Authority ruled Mr Duncan was not entitled to two million shares worth $880,000.
He appealed to the Employment Court, resulting in the settlement of $475,000.
The Employment Court action was filed as Duncan vs Torchlight, an investment company managed by PGC, which also owns a significant shareholding.
c.hutch@clear.net.nz
Chris Hutching
Thu, 11 Dec 2014
Thu, 11 Dec 2014
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Second PGC man settles employment dispute
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