The Employment Relations Authority has upheld a personal
grievance claim for unjustified dismissal.
An employee had borrowed $35 from his boss and an
altercation followed the boss asking to be repaid. The altercation occurred in front of other
employees and resulted in the employee going home feeling stressed. The employer then dismissed the employee by
text message.
The ERA found that no proper process had been followed in
relation to the non-repayment of the loan.
If a disciplinary process had been followed it might have resulted in
justified disciplinary action against the employee which could have included
dismissal, however as no process was followed the employer was not justified in
dismissing the employee by text in the way it did.
The employer was ordered to pay the employee three months
wages plus $7,000 compensation and other costs.
There was a deduction made of 30% for the employee’s contributory
conduct in relation to non-payment of the loan.
Alan
Knowsley
Employment
Lawyer Wellington
No comments:
Post a Comment