Waimea Weekly
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Your Community Newspaper
Wednesday 11 September 2013
Behind the 8 ball
PIG HUNT CHALLENGE Page 15 - 17
Page 8
Big week for colleges Page 24
Mum told Olympic star recognised unpaid job trial is fraud Phillip Rollo Reporter
editorial@waimeaweekly.co.nz
Work and Income appears to have wrongly accused a Richmond mother of fraud, stating that free work trials are illegal, when they are not. Amber Heyes says she’s been on the Domestic Purposes Benefit for around 18 months and has been unemployed for the past four months. When her youngest child started school recently she decided to find work again and approached several cafes, as she has worked as a barista in the past. She struck a deal with owner of the Sundial Square coffee cart to do an unpaid trial for several hours over two weeks to show her she was capable of the job. After the two week trial Amber says she was offered the part time job and was thrilled. But her case manager at Work and Income, Megan Goodman, wrote to her saying to do a trial without getting paid is illegal and her new employer’s details would be passed to Inland Revenue, for them to investigate. The Ministry of Business, In-
5
Andrew Board Editor
andrew@nelsonweekly.co.nz
novation and Employment confirmed to Waimea Weekly that unpaid trials are legal, meaning the case manager appears to have got it wrong. After raising the issues with Work and Income, a representative told the Weekly that it will investigate the matter but it could not comment on it in time for this article. Amber says during the trial she saw her case manager, who is based in Richmond, walk past the coffee cart and she waved out to her. “I said to her ‘it looks like a might get a job here, isn’t that great?’” A week later Amber says she told Work and Income that she did get the job but was told they didn’t believe the trial was unpaid. Her case manager wrote: “We do take fraud seriously and if we have a fraud allegation we must follow SEE PAGE 2
Black Stick Anita Punt received an Olympic pin from Sport Tasman during her visit home last week. Photo: Phillip Rollo.
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Going to the London Olympics was a dream come true for hockey international Anita Punt but she still doesn’t like to talk about the result. While finishing inside the top four in the world would be a welcome result for any New Zealand hockey team, fourth place at an Olympic Games is often considered the worst position to finish, missing out on a medal by just one placing. Although Anita came home empty handed, the experience is something she will never forget and to recognise her efforts, the fastest woman in world hockey was presented with an Olympic pin from Sport Tasman on Friday afternoon. The pin – which is given to every athlete that has represented New Zealand at the Olympics – has her Olympic number engraved on it, and was last presented in Nelson to Golden Bay cyclist Jack Bauer. Anita described the presentation, which was held during the conclusion of the Marie Fry Trophy secondary school tournament, as “pretty special,” before the pin was officially pinned on by former Olympian Jeff Rackley. While Jack’s presentation was SEE PAGE 2
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