A few articles about Christine Rankine, from the New Zealand Herald
Court dismisses Rankin claim
02.08.2001 4:15
pm
Christine Rankin's $1.2m grievance case against State Services Commissioner
Michael Wintringham has been dismissed by the Employment Court.
The former chief executive of Work and Income New Zealand was suing Mr Wintringham for damages and seeking reinstatement after she failed to win another term in her three-year, $250,000-a-year job, which ended on July 5.
In his decision announced a short time ago, Chief Employment Court Judge Tom Goddard dismissed the case and said costs had been reserved.
Judge Goodard said in a 63-page written judgement that Mrs Rankin had suffered "no legal wrong".
"The plaintiff has had a harrowing experience in the service of the State and is entitled to considerable sympathy.
"But... my sole concern is with legal issues. It seems, on proper analysis that that plaintiff has suffered no legal wrong," he said.
Mrs Rankin said she was very disappointed at the decision, but realised the decision in court was based on points of law.
"Often things are wrong that are not necessarily against the law."
"Sexism is alive and well in the public service and, judging by the hundreds and hundreds of letters I receive, in New Zealand generally."
She said there was no question that if she had been a man most, if not all of this would not have happened.
Mr Wintringham said the decision confirmed the broad principles upon which the Public Service management system operates.
"I have been confident that I have treated Mrs Rankin fairly, and discharged my statutory responsibilities properly. The judgment effectively confirms my view."
Mrs Rankin claimed during the hearing she had been unfairly and unreasonably treated, alleging political interference in the decision not to re-appoint her.
During the two ½ week hearing in July Social Services Minister Steve Maharey told the court he had found it difficult to work with Mrs Rankin.
The court also heard how MPs and others, including the head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet Dr Mark Prebble, had found her short skirts and dangly earrings inappropriate.
Attorney General Margaret Wilson said today the Crown was pleased at the decision because it vindicated its position.
Mrs Wilson said the case was about Rankin's competency and nothing else.
Green MP Sue Bradford welcomed the decision saying it confirmed Mrs Rankin's problem has always been her performance, not her clothes and appearance.
Mrs Rankin's statement of claim alleged Mr Wintringham broke her contract and did not deal with her as a fair employer.
She alleged Mr Wintringham had not dealt with concerns about her working relationship with Mr Maharey, failed to consult her about plans to disestablish her job, and did not complete regular remuneration reviews.
Mrs Rankin told the hearing of a conversation between her and Mr Wintringham in which he began by saying he wanted their discussion to be off the record.
Mrs Rankin alleged he said that in a court of law he would deny that they had had the discussion and also if he was questioned at a coming select committee hearing.
"He said the purpose of the meeting was to give me advance warning I was not going to be reappointed. He was anxious. He said I had been treated appallingly by the Government. But the Prime Minister and Minister Mallard had said there was no way I would serve another term as chief executive officer.
"Mr Wintringham said he could not recommend me for reappointment because the Government would not let him."
She discussed the effect taking a job in Australia would have on her marriage, which was going through a difficult time.
"I said if I went to Australia I would be going on my own. I couldn't imagine taking a new job with no friends or support."
She said Mr Wintringham told her he went over to Australia once a month because he was on a board. He could meet her for coffee or dinner so she would not be alone.
It would be purely platonic because Mr Wintringham told her he was celibate, Mrs Rankin told the court.
Mr Wintringham denied that Prime Minister Helen Clark and State Services Minister Trevor Mallard had directed him not to reappoint her.
He denied telling Mrs Rankin he would later deny in court having said such a thing. And he denied she had been denied natural justice in his decision not to reappoint her.
Mr Wintringham did not deny saying at a meeting on May 24 last year that he was "celibate" and would visit her in Australia on a platonic basis.
Dr Prebble admitted at the hearing that he told Mrs Rankin that her dress was indecent and offensive and she should shop at chain stores.
Dr Prebble described his first meeting her on a visit to Winz head office in April 1999 and being embarrassed by her low neckline.
"I was outraged at having someone sitting in front of me displaying as much as she was displaying and I found it offensive.
"I was sitting to her side ... and every time she moved I found that I was having to see an embarrassingly large amount of breast exposed. I didn't like it."
He said he did not raise the issue at the time because he did not know Mrs Rankin well enough.
Mrs Rankin alleged that Dr Prebble told her that her earrings were a sexual come-on, her short skirts "an absolute distraction" and that he was disturbed by a glimpse of her moving breast.
Mrs Rankin claim comprised $770,778 for three years' lost earnings, $117,000 for allegedly not being given six months notice, $300,000 for harm to future employment and $50,000 for exemplary damages.
_
30.06.2001 By
FRANCESCA MOLD
Welfare and employment boss Christine Rankin has given New Zealanders an intimate
peek at the public service and Government this week.
In the Employment Court in Wellington, she alleged sexism, political interference and threats by state sector officials to deny conversations with her in court.
It took three days for Mrs Rankin to present her argument for reinstatement as chief executive and $818,000 in compensation and damages.
The Crown began its defence with a description by State Services Commissioner Michael Wintringham of a catalogue of errors in Winz under Mrs Rankin.
Next week, the court will hear from senior Government ministers, the head of the Prime Minister's Department, Dr Mark Prebble, former State Services Commissioner Don Hunn and constitutional lawyer Sir Geoffrey Palmer.
Highlights of the past week included:
Political fodder
Mrs Rankin said it was clear months before the election that the Labour Party intended to use her in its campaign and then sack her if it won office.
A sign of things to come
Just 90 minutes before Mrs Rankin and her officials left the Winz building to attend their first post-election meeting with new minister Steve Maharey on December 20, 1999, staff received a phone call from the minister's office to tell them the media knew about the meeting.
As soon as the group stepped out of the building to walk the couple of hundred metres to the Beehive, they were confronted by a "barrage" of journalists.
Emerging from the lift on the sixth floor of the Beehive, Mrs Rankin said, they saw what looked like a pool of blood on the floor and two waiting photographers. It turned out to be red wine. "We had to step over it. This, of course, was deliberately staged."
Mrs Rankin said Mr Maharey had suggested a need to change her appearance to tone down media focus on her.
In cross-examination, crown counsel Alan Galbraith, QC, said Mr Maharey had simply suggested that one way to help fix the department's image was by making changes to her personal style.
Those skirts and earrings
Mrs Rankin was called to the minister's office to explain a confidential payout to a former employee.
Both Mr Maharey and Associate Minister Ruth Dyson were angry about the difficult position the Government was in, because it had campaigned against public service payouts.
"They said I was at fault and I should be sacked," Mrs Rankin said.
"He told me I should go home and take a look in the mirror, change my earrings, skirts and glasses and maybe we could work together."
The naked ape
The meeting with the head of the Prime Minister's Department was set up as a frank discussion about Mrs Rankin's relationship with her ministers.
It began, according to Mrs Rankin, with a request from Dr Prebble that the discussion be "off the record" and a threat that he would deny it in court.
"He said there was a problem about the way I looked. I had become a sexual object or icon in the public service. I made a lot of men uncomfortable by the way I dressed.
"Mr Prebble said he personally felt uncomfortable the first time he met me, and that my earrings in terms of the Darwin theory and The Naked Ape were a sexual come on ... He referred to a meeting where I was present - he said when I moved he could distinguish my breast and that had made him feel very uncomfortable."
Mr Galbraith questioned Mrs Rankin's memory.
"Mark Prebble was frank with you. What he was trying to do, whether you approved or didn't approve, was to give you advice about how best to cope with the change in Government?"
Mrs Rankin: "It didn't feel like that."
--
May 24, 2000 - the day Christine Rankin found out she had lost her job.
She met Mr Wintringham in his office. She said he warned her that he would deny, in court or before a select committee, the conversation that was to come.
Mr Wintringham has denied saying that he would perjure himself.
Mrs Rankin said her boss told her he wanted to give her advance warning that she would not be reappointed.
"He was anxious. He said I had been treated appallingly by the Government, but he had no choice."
Mr Wintringham's version is that Mrs Rankin asked him about the likelihood of her staying in the job, and he advised her to be open to a "managed career transition."
Mrs Rankin told Mr Wintringham that her relationship with her husband was in trouble, and it was likely that if she went to Australia, she would be going on her own.
But Mr Wintringham reassured her that he went to Australia twice a month. He could meet her for coffee or dinner so that she would not be alone.
It would be purely platonic, because Mr Wintringham told her he was celibate, Mrs Rankin said.
The supportive husband
Insurance manager Allan Hogg gave an emotional account of his wife's fear and desperation after she learned her job was over.
He described how the community's vitriolic attacks on Mrs Rankin had forced the couple to live a life in hiding.
A litany of failures
Michael Wintringham took six hours to read his version of the events leading to his decision not to reappoint Mrs Rankin.
He said she failed to win the confidence of the Government and did not have the skills or intellectual rigour for the job.
Mr Wintringham said he spent more time with Mrs Rankin than any of the other 30-odd public service chief executives.
He supported her to the hilt, including through the department's most turbulent times after revelations that it had spent more than $200,000 on a staff training conference at Wairakei resort.