Meet the world's worst boss

Melbourne, Feb 23 : If you think that your boss is the worst employer in the entire world, spare a thought, for the 'accolade' may well go to this New Zealander who sacked his employee while he was recovering from a heart disease.

The employee, Murray Gardiner had a double by-pass in January after a week of chest pains but as he recuperated at Ellesmere Hospital in Lincoln, near Christchurch, his boss Patch Rubber Company director Julian Proctor visited to tell him he had been sacked from his job of 11 years.

"I was flabbergasted. I could have had a heart attack. I didn't even know he was coming," The Daily Telegraph quoted Gardiner, as saying.

Gardiner said that his boss had told him that the operation was not fully successful and the veins taken from his legs were not much better than the ones going to his heart, so only half the operation could be completed.

"To return to full duties too soon 'could kill you'," Proctor had warned Gardiner.

"A temporary replacement for Gardiner could not be found "even if you are able in the future to resume full duties".

"So it is with regret that I must terminate your employment," Proctor said.

Even when Proctor was told that Gardiner would be fit within three months, he refused to take him back in the company. An employment lawyer called the move "unlawful", "callous" and "grossly insensitive".

ANI