That, however, was not the position according to the employer. They alleged that Mr B. had in his possession at the time of his unexpected resignation two Panasonic CD players, a company float of $500.00 and unaccounted for banking. Additionally recovery of the company vehicle at the Nelson airport put the Christchurch based employer to expense. The employer also sought recovery of two weeks notice which was provided for in the written employment agreement and not given by Mr B.
The Authority was satisfied that most of the claim had been made out by the employer.
In relation to wages the evidence from the employer was that they paid Mr B. wages in advance over the 2008 Christmas period and in addition to those wages they were entitled to recover a further two weeks being the two weeks notice which Mr B. failed to provide when he suddenly resigned his employment.
The law on this particular matter is clear. The employer cannot seek to recovery monies “unreasonably” in such circumstances but the Authority was satisfied on the evidence that the employer was genuinely put out by Mr B’s sudden and unexpected resignation and they suffered loss as a consequence.
The employer sought to recover costs of having to travel to the Nelson airport to recover their company vehicle left there by Mr B. The Authority awarded the cost of the airfare to Nelson from Christchurch, taxi fares from Christchurch airport and a petrol bill all amounting to $316.72.
Notch this one up, therefore, for the employer. If you have in your employment agreement that an employee agrees to give X weeks notice and that notice is not given then as long as it’s not unreasonable you can recover it. If you have a deductions clause in your agreement (and as long as the employee does leave at the end of a pay period with no holiday pay owed) then you may be able to deduct the period of notice not given from the employee’s final pay. But in no circumstance do this unless the employment agreement allows for it – yet another reason to “get thee to a lawyer” and get your Employment Agreements sorted.
