A Wellington chef who was sacked on the spot after sleeping through his alarm twice and missing a busy shift due to having a sore leg has been awarded nearly $10,000.
The Employment Relations Authority found in favour of Luke Keirsey after he was dismissed by his boss at a Wellington restaurant owned by Betty White Limited.
"Mr Keirsey was dismissed without notice, without investigation and without [the company] raising any of its concerns with Mr Keirsey formally," authority member Greg Wood said.
He was originally employed in November 2013 as a demi chef on a trial basis at Hummingbird - a restaurant and bar on Courtenay Place owned by Gina and Nick Mills.
Mrs Mills and executive chef Sahil Hussein soon came to the conclusion that Mr Keirsey did not have the skills to fulfil the role, at what was described as a "near fine-dining restaurant", and sent him to a new cafe they opened at Lyall Bay, called The Spruce Goose, the Employment Relations Authority decision said.
The decision said the new venture was "very successful" and Mr Keirsey worked long hours between December 6 and January 3, 2014, when he was sacked.
During that period, the chef worked 12-hour days, which took their toll.
"In these circumstances one might expect some sympathy from an employer when, on two occasions, he slept through his alarm after working late the night before," Mr Wood said.
"Mr Hussein was becoming more and more frustrated with what he saw as Mr Keirsey's lack of speed at his work and his failure to carry out specific instructions for food preparation."
Mr Keirsey missed a busy shift on New Year's Eve because of pains in his leg from a non-work accident and when he went to see Mr Hussein with a medical certificate a couple of days later, he was told he was no longer required.
His boss told the authority he had "simply had enough" of the employee's performance.
But Mr Wood ruled Mr Keirsey's performance was no fault of his own.
"This was not a case of a worker who deliberately disobeyed any instructions or was slack or lackadaisical at work," he said.
Six months and 20 job applications later, Mr Keirsey found new work in the hospitality industry.
He was awarded $9820 for loss of earning and emotional-harm compensation.
A painter has been awarded $10,000 because she was wrongly dismissed days after blowing the whistle on her employer's failure to pay tax.
The Employment Relation Authority (ERA) ordered compensation for Karla Botting, from Strowan in Christchurch, for the humiliation and loss of dignity she sustained when she was fired from her job as a paint hand before Christmas in 2013.
She discovered her employer, Simon Johannis of Nomis Painters and Decorating, had taken student loan repayments and taxes from her wages but had not paid them to Inland Revenue (IRD).
She found out when the IRD informed her they had not been receiving student loan repayments from her.
Johannis was initially "a lovely person" to work for, she said, but became rude after she confronted him.
She was made redundant five days later.
Botting, a single mother with two children, had to be prescribed sleeping pills to cope with financial stress following her termination.
Over her four-week notice period, Botting said she was not allowed to take leave as previously agreed. She was put to work painting Johannis' parent's property, and had to make alternative childcare arrangements.
She said she had to take unpaid time off work to provide evidence to the IRD she had worked for Nomis, and had to pay interest and penalties on her student loan because it had not been paid.
Johannis said Botting was let go because there was no work for her.
ERA rejected that claim, and said her whistleblowing was likely a factor in her termination.
"I find on the balance of probabilities that Nomis has an ulterior reason for terminating its relationship with Botting which was not a genuine redundancy," said ERA member Helen Boyle.
The IRD was investigating the incident.
Nomis was ordered to pay Botting $10,000 in compensation, and a further $1980 for lost wages.作者: 匿名 时间: 2015-1-6 14:37:01