A staff Christmas barbecue featuring an estimated 18kg of scotch fillet taken from a prison kitchen has landed a veteran Corrections employee in an employment battle.Andrew Martin was fired for serious misconduct after food was taken from the Northland Regional Corrections Facility for a staff Christmas function at his home.Now, the former Corrections employee has taken his case to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) in a bid to be temporarily reinstated to his role, or to the department's payroll, while he pursues a personal grievance over his dismissal.But ERA authority member Nicola Craig said in a recently released decision that would not be happening."Overall, there is nothing in this overall justice consideration which would persuade me that the interim reinstatement application should be granted," she wrote.The Department of Corrections employed Martin as the principal instructor for catering and laundry at Northland Regional Corrections Facility.He had worked at Corrections for 20 years, and his main role included staff supervision, prisoner management and ensuring continuity of essential services in the catering and laundry units.Martin had authority to order food for the prison but not to sign off for staff food without approval.Corrections has a Sensitive Expenditure Policy requiring sign-off above Martin's level for staff expenditure.Under the policy, an up to $25 per head cost for the staff Christmas party was permitted with written approval.Further permission was needed if the cost exceeded $200 and the money was not to be spent on the worker's family members.Planning for a staff Christmas party in 2024 began in October that year, with the function to be held at Martin's home.The ERA was told there was no written approval for the event and no one accepted they had given verbal approval.However, CCTV footage from 22 November that year showed staff taking food from the kitchen, moving it into a car in the staff carpark, and leaving the prison.The following day, two staff members took more food off site for the event.Food for the event included potato salad, coleslaw, juice and an estimated 18kg of scotch fillet.Martin told the authority he believed approval had been obtained for the food to be ordered and taken off-site.Submissions for Martin said he was being used as a "scapegoat for others' actions or inactions".Following an internal investigation, Martin was fired for serious misconduct.Corrections said Martin had acknowledged he had "stuffed up" and should have obtained written approval, although Martin later disputed making that admission.Corrections opposed Martin's application for interim reinstatement.It told the authority Martin would be in a vulnerable position with prisoners if reinstated temporarily, as they would be aware of his dismissal, that his job was not safe and might hold this over him or offer bribes.Corrections was also concerned about "Martin's ongoing lack of accountability for his actions", with him described as still seeking to deny and minimise his responsibility for events.Craig ruled that Martin should not be reinstated to the payroll or his former role until a full hearing was held into his personal grievance claim.She said Martin had a weak arguable case that Corrections did not act as a fair and reasonable employer and that he was unjustifiably dismissed.The parties were directed to attend mediation.According to the decision, if matters were still unresolved after mediation, Martin could pursue a substantive grievance.A Corrections spokesperson told NZME it welcomed the ERA's decision, but as the case continued, it was unable to provide further comment.- This story originally appeared in the New Zealand HeraldOpen Justice