A woman has been awarded $13,000 for being unjustifiably dismissed from her Auckland bartending job after a little over a week's work.
Anna Faulls was employed to work at the Italia Square in Parnell, which was under construction at the time.
Photo: RNZ / Megan Whelan
On her ninth day in the job, which was set to be the bar's opening night, Ms Faulls sent staff home after her employer's wife gave her clearance to do so because they both agreed it was unlikely it was going to be ready in time.
When her employer Sean Aram - director of the company which owns the Auckland outfit - found out Ms Faulls had sent staff home he became angry and dismissed her on the spot.
The Employment Relations Authority said Mr Aram provided inconsistent and contradictory evidence to the tribunal and had unjustifiably dismissed Ms Faulls.
She was awarded $6000 of compensation for humiliation, $6342.50 for reimbursement of lost wages, and nearly $592.80 for unpaid holiday.
The employment status of Ms Faulls was also under scrutiny as she understood that she would be employed on a full-time, 40 hour a week basis over the summer before returning to study.
However, the employment agreement, which was signed after Mr Faulls started work, referred to a casual engagement, but the Authority found that this was not what was verbally agreed and she had a reasonable expectation of a minimum of 40 hours work.
The Authority concluded that based on this Ms Faulls would have earned $7,480 had she not been dismissed.
It awarded her $6342.50 for the loss of wages, because she had only managed to secure about $1,000 of limited nannying work due to her dismissal and the difficulty in finding work at that time of year.
Ms Faulls was shouted at by Mr Aram and dismissed in front of other staff, contractors and suppliers.
The Authority heard evidence from Ms Faulls about the stress and shock of the dismissal and how she had lost a great deal of confidence from the "humiliating dismissal".
