Former food service manager at North Shore Hospital Padmini Singh was rightly dismissed, an ERA decision says. A food safety manager in an Auckland hospital who was fired after unsafe work practices was not unjustifiably dismissed as she claims. Former food service manager at North Shore Hospital Padmini Singh was employed by Compass Group from August 2009 until January 2015. Her employment ended after she was found to have been lacking in a number of areas in food safety and a decision on a demotion for her couldn’t be reached. Compass Group had already been warned about food safety prior to audits of Singh’s work coming up short. An outbreak of norovirus at North Shore Hospital in 2012 was found to have most likely originated in the hospital kitchen – though this was never confirmed nor linked to Singh. During the outbreak there were 59 cases of gastroenteritis with each patient having had the same food. The Ministry for Primary Industries conducted an investigation and there were indications the culprit may have been a chicken and barley soup served at lunch. Ultimately, the source of the norovirus was not determined and MPI issued a formal warning to Compass Group that it was at risk of legal action. Operations manager Raymond Hall said this warning was related to hand hygiene practices, training and food safety documentation. An internal inspection in 2014 while Singh was food safety manager showed the kitchen was not up to scratch in terms of cleanliness. The breaches to food safety including inconsistently cooling meat down and incorrectly recording temperatures. A deep cleaning of the kitchen was undertaken to bring the site up to the required cleanliness standard and to prepare for an upcoming external audit. At a disciplinary meeting in October 2014, Singh took responsibility for the concerns raised in the audit and said she was facing considerable pressure in her personal and family life, which had affected her work and performance. She was offered another role at Waitakere Hospital which came with fewer responsibilities and less money but she declined the transfer saying a November 2014 report found overall standards of cleanliness were good and equipment was well-maintained. Singh instead accepted a performance improvement plan. But she was reminded that additional staffing had been needed to bring the standards up to scratch and it was appropriate to remove her from her role. Despite discussions between the parties no agreement could be reached about her redeployment and so her employment ended in January. The authority found all processes had been followed and Singh was not unjustifiably dismissed. Costs were reserved.
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