The Employment Relations Authority has upheld a claim for
unjustified dismissal when an employee was working out his notice period after
resigning. One week before the notice
period was supposed to end the employer told him to leave the employment and
did not pay him for the final week. The
ERA said that this was an unjustified dismissal and awarded compensation of
$2,000 for the early notice, plus payment for the week that was unpaid.
The employer had also not paid any tax on the employee’s
wages during the time he was employed and the employee had had to personally
pay those to the IRD. The ERA ordered
the employer to pay the tax plus a further $2,000 compensation for failing to
pay the tax.
The employee had also claimed that he was unjustifiably
dismissed because of the actions of the employer in abusive conduct towards
him. The employee had, however, not
raised any of those matters of abuse with the employer during his employment
and did not mention them at any time including when he resigned. This meant that the employer had no
opportunity to respond to the allegations or to modify its behaviour in
relation to any complaints. That claim
of unjustified dismissal was rejected.
If an employee has a complaint about the behaviour of
their employer then they have an obligation to raise those matters with the
employer at the earliest opportunity, so that matters can be resolved. A failure to do so means that they will not
be able to later claim an unjustified disadvantage or an unjustified dismissal
on the basis of the employer’s behaviour.
Alan
Knowsley
Employment
Lawyer Wellington
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