The Employment Relations Authority has upheld a personal grievance claim for unjustified dismissal after an employee was dismissed from her job.  The employer gave varying reasons for the dismissal, both in writing and at the Employment Relations Authority hearing.  The employer alleged at various times that it was for serious misconduct.  At other times it was for poor performance and other times it was because of redundancy.

Unfortunately for the employer there was no evidence of any process being followed to investigate any issues of serious misconduct or any issues of poor performance and there was no consultation in relation to any redundancy situation.  The dismissal was therefore unjustified and the employer was ordered to pay $12,800 in lost wages, $2,500 for arrears of wages and unpaid holiday pay, plus $9,000 compensation for the unjustified dismissal.  The employer was also ordered to pay a penalty of $1,000 for the non-payment of holiday pay.




Alan Knowsley
Employment Lawyer
Wellington