Viv Beck ordered back to Heart of the City CEO role after suspension
Wednesday, 20 May 2026
Heart of the City has been ordered to allow chief executive Viv Beck to return to work after the Employment Relations Authority found she had an arguable case that her suspension was unjustified.
Beck, who has led the central city business association for about 10 years, brought a personal grievance claiming she had been disadvantaged by being suspended from her role, which was first revealed by The Post last month.
The authority heard the case under urgency on May 8 and its determination was made on May 15.
Responding to the decision, Beck broke her silence to tell The Post that she was “absolutely delighted” to be returning to work next week.
The authority granted Beck’s application for interim reinstatement, ordering Heart of the City to allow her to return to work as chief executive while an investigation into concerns raised by the organisation continues.
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Authority member Nicola Craig found Beck had an arguable case that Heart of the City failed to act as a fair and reasonable employer could have done, including by not raising its concerns with her and giving her an opportunity to respond before suspending her.
Heart of the City opposed Beck’s reinstatement, saying there were genuine and reasonable grounds for her to remain off work on suspension.
The authority said Heart of the City placed the start of the breakdown in its relationship with Beck in October 2025, after publicity about a business survey.
Beck disputed that, saying the tensions were more recent.
The determination said issues escalated after new committee members were appointed, a new chairperson was confirmed, and Beck raised concerns about governance, including questions about constitutional eligibility, conflicts of interest and board minutes.
On March 18, Beck emailed committee members raising concerns about the eligibility and conflicts of interest of the chairperson, his alleged involvement with a media article and broader governance issues. She referred to wanting to work together in good faith for the benefit of members and the city.
Heart of the City viewed the situation differently, arguing it was an escalating dispute over who should be in charge rather than a neutral raising of concerns.
Beck was then suspended by letter on March 27 which raised broad concerns including poor communication, a breakdown of trust and confidence between Beck and the committee, hostile behaviour towards committee members and withholding information said to be important to the committee’s functions.
Craig noted the letter did not provide further detail on each issue and said none of the broad categories appeared, on their face, to indicate financial impropriety.
The authority said the apparent trigger for Heart of the City’s actions was Beck’s raising of constitutional issues and, more specifically, her reference to calling a special general meeting.
“There is some strength in these circumstances to the submission on Ms Beck’s behalf that the cart was put before the horse – the suspension was enacted before it was even decided what the allegations against her were,” Craig said.
“It is challenging to see suspension as warranted when conducted in such a manner.”
The authority found Beck was suspended without any prior discussion.
It also said Heart of the City’s grounds for suspension were largely related to the potential impact on an upcoming investigation, but the risks were arguably too speculative.
Craig said the society was slow to progress its investigation after suspending Beck. It took two weeks to provide details of the concerns, three weeks before an independent investigator was appointed, and another week to send draft terms of reference for comment.
By the time those draft terms were provided, Beck had already been suspended for almost six weeks.
The authority said Beck’s role was high-profile and found the injury from her suspension had already begun, including concern about potential damage to her professional reputation.
Craig said suspension could be seen as being associated with serious wrongdoing and Beck was understandably concerned about potential damage to her professional reputation.
The suspension had also affected Beck personally. She told the authority she lived near the city centre and felt unable to walk around the area for fear of being asked about being stood down.
Media had been at her door and her husband had been approached for comment.
Heart of the City argued there would be risks if Beck returned to work, including possible interference with the investigation and the effect on stakeholders.
But the authority found there was no affidavit evidence from the chairperson about concerns working with Beck and no evidence from staff objecting to her reinstatement.
“By not a wide margin, the balance of convenience weighs in favour of Ms Beck for the interim order sought,” she said.
The authority found Beck had an arguable case that her suspension was unjustified and that interim reinstatement was practical and reasonable.
Heart of the City was ordered to reinstate Beck on an interim basis by allowing her to return to work as chief executive. The parties were also ordered to attend further mediation within five working days to help rebuild the relationship and develop a reintegration programme.
The dispute comes amid tensions inside the high-profile business association, which have been kept quiet with a spokesperson for the organisation refusing to tell The Post whether Beck had been reinstated as chief executive.
The authority’s decision shines some light on why.
An interim non-publication order over the names and identifying details of the parties had been in place, but was lifted, with the authority finding there was little purpose in preventing further publication about Beck and Heart of the City’s employment situation.
The Post revealed this morning that businesses had asked the association’s executive committee for a “please explain” on whether some of its executive members were eligible for their roles.
In response to the concerns raised, Heart of the City has initiated an “urgent” external review of its executive committee membership.