The Employment Relations Authority has
ordered an employer to pay $106,000 to husband and wife employees who were both
dismissed with no proper process. The
ERA found that the employer presented each employee with new employment
agreements for lesser roles than their current employment agreement and
demanded that these be signed. The
employees both refused to sign the agreements and were then dismissed by the
employer with no process being followed.
Even if a process had been followed there was no justification for
dismissal, because changes to employment agreements cannot be unilaterally
imposed by an employer.
The ERA awarded over $62,000 for lost
wages since the dismissals plus $8,600 for unpaid wages from the period when
they were employed and $30,000 compensation for hurt and humiliation suffered
by the employees from the manner of their dismissal.
The ERA also warned the directors of the
employing company that if the company did not pay the damages awarded that the
directors could be held personally liable and be subject to imprisonment.
Alan Knowsley
Employment Lawyer
Wellington
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