{"id":453716,"date":"2026-05-31T06:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T06:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/453716\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T06:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T06:27:09","slug":"mpi-told-to-temporarily-reinstate-mujahid-khan-after-firing-over-workplace-complaints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/453716\/","title":{"rendered":"MPI told to temporarily reinstate Mujahid Khan after firing over workplace complaints"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lunch break leads to complaint<\/p>\n

According to a recently released ERA decision, the first complaint related to Khan taking a colleague to a friend\u2019s house for lunch on June 10, 2025, during work hours.<\/p>\n

The female colleague claimed Khan pressured her to go to his friend\u2019s house for lunch during work hours despite her repeatedly telling him she did not want to go.<\/p>\n

She also told the ministry she felt \u201chighly uncomfortable\u201d and \u201cuneasy\u201d multiple times while she and Khan carried out inspections at transitional facilities in West Auckland.<\/p>\n

The woman alleged Khan made inappropriate and borderline homophobic comments and pressured her to clear a prohibited item for release to an importer.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe pair stopped at a cafe before continuing on to the friend’s house for lunch. Photo \/ RNZ<\/p>\n

Following an investigation, MPI concluded the only aspect of the first complaint that had been established was that Khan had pressured the woman to go to his friend\u2019s house for lunch.<\/p>\n

Khan told MPI the woman agreed to go and was comfortable during the visit.<\/p>\n

He said that on the way to the friend\u2019s house, she asked if they could stop at a cafe so she could buy her own lunch, which they did, and Khan believed she was agreeable to going to his friend\u2019s house.<\/p>\n

MPI concluded Khan had committed serious misconduct and failed to comply with its core values of being trustworthy, respectful and responsive.<\/p>\n

It also found he had breached its fleet vehicle policy, which states staff should not use work vehicles for personal use, as his friend\u2019s house was a 20-minute drive from the last work site Khan visited before attending the lunch.<\/p>\n

Second complaint also breached \u2018core values\u2019<\/p>\n

The second complaint was made by a male employee who alleged Khan raised his voice at him on June 12, 2025.<\/p>\n

Khan maintained he did not raise his voice that day and said his colleague was upset and not \u201chis normal self\u201d.<\/p>\n

MPI concluded Khan\u2019s behaviour was not consistent with its values and therefore it amounted to serious misconduct<\/a>.<\/p>\n

MPI then terminated Khan\u2019s employment based on the two incidents, taking into account a warning issued on August 14, 2024, which remained on his record for 12 months.<\/p>\n

In the termination letter, MPI stated Khan breached the code of conduct by not behaving in a manner consistent with the values of being trustworthy, respectful and responsive.<\/p>\n

However, Greening noted the termination letter did not refer to the categories of serious misconduct described in MPI\u2019s policies or explain Khan\u2019s behaviour in reference to those categories.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this interim stage, the evidential basis and category of serious misconduct, as described in MPI\u2019s policies and relied upon by MPI in concluding Mr Khan\u2019s behaviour amounted to serious misconduct, remains unclear,\u201d Greening said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt remains a live issue, to be addressed at the substantive investigation meeting, as to whether MPI, acting as a fair and reasonable employer, could terminate employment if the behaviour of Mr Khan did not amount to serious misconduct.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother relevant factor, as part of this assessment, is whether, according to MPI\u2019s policies, Mr Khan\u2019s behaviour amounted to misconduct, and therefore a warning may have followed.\u201d<\/p>\n

MPI argued permanent reinstatement was not possible because of a breakdown in trust and confidence in the working relationship, and because Khan\u2019s skills were role-specific so he could not be redeployed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe basis for this loss of trust and confidence in Mr Khan, according to MPI, is his ongoing failure to accept responsibility for what occurred,\u201d the ERA decision stated.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for MPI said it could not comment on the decision. <\/p>\n

MPI was ordered to reinstate Khan to the position he held before his dismissal, on an interim basis, within seven working days of the determination.<\/p>\n

Greening said a substantive hearing would need to be held at a later date to consider whether Khan should be permanently reinstated.<\/p>\n

An MPI spokesperson said the ministry could not comment on the decision.<\/p>\n

Brianna McIlraith is a Queenstown-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the lower South Island. She has been a journalist since 2018 and has had a strong interest in business and financial journalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lunch break leads to complaint According to a recently released ERA decision, the first complaint related to Khan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453717,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,11520,30701,4187,2837,3049,1445,11551,10053,3112,2213,51705,2683,29107,230822,111,43,139,69,1523,119890,81566,61,6859,6382,5977,4576,17708],"class_list":["post-453716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-after","tag-colleague","tag-complaints","tag-cost","tag-during","tag-firing","tag-friends","tag-hours","tag-house","tag-job","tag-khan","tag-lunch","tag-move","tag-mpi","tag-mujahid","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-over","tag-reinstate","tag-temporarily","tag-to","tag-told","tag-took","tag-which","tag-work","tag-workplace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}