Wellington SPCA staff summoned to meeting as bullying accusations surface

STUFF

Ros Alsford, general manager of the central region for the SPCA, called staff in for a meeting to address recent bullying claims.

All Wellington SPCA staff have been summoned to a meeting after allegations surfaced of bullying in the organisation.

Ros Alsford, general manager of central region SPCA, confirmed the meeting, which took place on Friday.

Those allegations, first sent to Stuff anonymously but then verified by multiple sources, revolve around bullying handed down by a member of the senior leadership team, who Stuff has chosen to not immediately name.

SUPPLIED

SPCA chief executive Andrea Midgen sent this letter to the organisation's staff and volunteers on Tuesday.

Attempts by Stuff to contact the staff member concerned, via SPCA, were unsuccessful.

The allegations stunned Alsford, who said she had not been made aware of any of them.

Since the SPCA had not received any compliant directly, it had not been able to follow its usual HR and legal process, Alsford said.

But after learning of the claims, she called all Wellington staff in for a meeting where she made it clear how staff could come forward with claims, including anonymously.

Alsford told them she was happy to share her cell number with staff and would meet them for a weekend coffee if they wanted to talk anonymously.

Staff were also told they could call the overarching boss of New Zealand SPCA, or go through conventional channels, such as the human resources department, or go to the external Employee Assistance Programme.

The alleged bully's name was not raised at Friday's meeting and he remained in a senior role where he was in charge of staff.

If concerns were raised, SPCA had all the appropriate systems in place to deal with it, Alsford said.

"We are not scared of dealing with this no matter who it is."

New Zealand SPCA chief executive officer Andrea Midgen said the organisation took a zero tolerance approach towards any sort of bullying or harassment of staff or volunteers.

"We feel strongly that our people have a right to come to work and feel safe and respected."

The national office had not received any formal complaints from its Wellington centre staff or volunteers, to date, regarding harassment or bullying, she said.

But it had reminded all of its staff that procedures were in place to ensure any formal complaints were acted on fairly, ethically and quickly.

"We are liaising closely with our Wellington team who are at the centre of this matter, and have encouraged any SPCA NZ staff member or volunteer who feels they have been bullied or harassed to contact me or the police so we can enable a full, fair investigation," Midgen said.

In 2013, clinic supervisor Joanne Double laid a complaint with the Employment Relations Authority after she was made redundant from the Wellington SPCA during its restructure in 2011.

She claimed the redundancy was unjustified, as there was another animal care position she could have been offered, and that the decision was influenced by management wishing to remove her due to her raising issues with workplace bullying.

Double told the ERA at the time that she had a difficult relationship with a colleague, which she considered to be bullying – an issue that was never resolved during her employment.

Wellington SPCA's chief executive at the time, Iain Torrance, had not been willing to address her concerns, she said. No formal complaints were ever lodged against the staff member Double accused of bullying.

The SPCA disputed Double's bullying claim. Torrance said if any formal complaints had been put forward then he would have investigated fully.

ERA member Trish MacKinnon said at the time that Double's suggestion she was viewed negatively by Torrance due to her concerns over bullying was not a factor in the restructure, but Torrance did little to dispel her fears.

She found in favour of Double and ordered the SPCA to pay three months' wages and compensation for hurt and humiliation – a total of $12,000.