Mrs. M was a nurse employed by a vet in Auckland. She enjoyed her work, but was unhappy about the additional hours of work that were required of her on evenings and Saturdays. She was also stressed out about having to deal with clients who were unhappy with the vet - who often cancelled appointments, was late for consultations, or was not able to be contacted by phone.
Mrs. M tried to negotiate a pay rise to recognise her high work load and level of responsibility. They did discuss the matter, but it was not resolved to the point that Mrs. M was happy with the outcome.
The next day, Mrs. M sent a text message to her employer to say that she was sick, (note for employees that this is probably not the best method of communication to use in these circumstances). Her employer then rang her, and during that conversation they talked about the issues Mrs. M had previously raised with regards to her hours at the clinic. Her employer said during that phone call “so we have hit a wall then”, and then ended the call by saying that “we need to part ways”. First Mistake.
As a result of this phone call Mrs. M thought she had been dismissed, but just wanted to make sure, so emailed her employer asking for clarification. Mrs. M did not receive a reply, so went to work on Monday morning. She tried to open the clinic doors, but found that her keys did not work. She quickly concluded that the locks had been changed, and that she had indeed been dismissed. Second Mistake.
Following all of this, Mrs. M attempted to recover her personal possessions that she had at her former workplace. She was unable to negotiate with her employer for the return of them. Third Mistake.
Mediation was arranged for the two parties, however, the employer failed to attend. Fourth Mistake.
Unsurprisingly, the Authority found that Mrs. M had been unjustifiably dismissed, because her employer did not act in a fair and reasonable manner. The Authority ordered the employer to pay Mrs. M just over $22000 in compensation.
This case serves as a reminder that to dismiss employees, employers must have a good reason to do so, and the correct procedure must be followed. Here, there was no apparent reason for the employer to dismiss Mrs. M, and a proper process was definitely not adhered too. Mrs. M’s employer did not communicate with her at all, and locking her out of her workplace was abysmal behaviour.
Remember a few months ago I wrote about the Flexible Working Hours Bill – well that has now been passed. I will keep my eyes open for any cases on the new legislation.
This article originally appeared in the Southland Times Work To Rule column. Mary-Jane Thomas is head of Preston Russell's employment law team. Contact her by clicking here
