Mary-Jane Thomas
Employment Court
Jackson, Bailey & Dalzell v The Board of Trustees of Southland Boys High School [2022] NZEmpC 136 (PDF, 248.03 kB)
The applicants in this case were longstanding and senior secondary school teachers who were dismissed following a restructuring exercise. The Employment Relations Authority found that the dismissals were procedurally flawed and the three teachers had been unjustifiably dismissed. The defendants were each awarded compensation of $28,000 and lost wages of $25,679, these awards were then upheld in the Employment Court.
Cowan v Kidd Partnership [2020] NZEmpC 110 (PDF, 327.06 kB)
Employment Relations Authority
Tecson v Pride Property Management [2024] NZERA 322 (PDF, 1.48 MB)
We acted for an employer in this successful defence of a claim for unjustified dismissal arising out of a 90 day trial period.
WFW v ZUW [2024] NZERA 306 Part 1 (PDF, 414.76 kB) WFW v ZUW [2024] NZERA 306 Part 2 (PDF, 536.51 kB)
In a recent case a fourteen year old was awarded $20000 compensation by the Employment Relations Authority after a finding that she had been sexually harrassed.
Smyth v Fonterra Co-Operative Group Limited [2023] NZERA 712 (PDF, 2.35 MB)
Ms Smyth was a Fonterra canteen worker who was dismissed from her role for a failure to wear a face mask due to her asthma. Fonterra alleged that Ms Smyth could not fulfil the changed requirements of her role to wear a face mask. Ms Smyth was not given the opportunity to respond to these allegations and was therefore unjustifiably dismissed, she was awarded compensation of $30,000 and received lost wages for a 14 month period.
Twose v Kiwirail Limited [2023] NZERA 662 (PDF, 3.25 MB)
Mr Twose was employed with KiwiRail Interislander, his employment was terminated under the KiwiRail mandatory vaccination policy. KiwiRail had failed to exhaust alternatives to termination when Mr Twose was dismissed, and they also disadvantaged him by keeping him working while he was unvaccinated. Mr Twose was awarded compensation of $20,000 and four months lost wages.
Hall v Kiwirail Limited [2023] NZERA 646 (PDF, 4.11 MB)
KiwiRail introduced a mandatory vaccination policy which had applied to Mr Hall, once this policy ended he remained excluded in the workplace and requested a bullying investigation take place. The Employer failed to take appropriate steps and Mr Hall was found to have been constructively dismissed. He was awarded compensation of $20,000 and $4,890 in lost wages.
Milne v Allied Investments Limited t/a Allied Security [2023] NZERA 638 (PDF, 1.91 MB)
Ms Milne was employed at Tiwai Point as a security officer. Allied Security secured the contract to provide security services at Tiwai from Ms Milne’s previous employer while she was off on parental leave. While she was away on parental leave she was unjustifiably dismissed from her employment. The authority awarded compensation of $18,000 and lost wages of $12,875.
Baillie v The Vice Chancellor of the University of Otago [2023] NZERA 438 (PDF, 3.66 MB)
Ms Baillie was employed with the University of Otago, when they introduced a mandatory vaccination policy she proposed to work from home. The University failed to properly engage and therefore failed to consider all reasonable alternatives to termination. The dismissal was held to be unjustified and Ms Baillie was awarded compensation of $20,000 and $33,023.50 in lost wages.
Amos, Menpes & Burgess v Evandale Gardens [2021] NZERA 414 (PDF, 1.21 MB)
The three Applicants in this case worked for Evandale Gardens and were dismissed following a restructuring exercise. Due to various procedural flaws in the process and breaches of good faith the Applicants were found to have been unjustifiably dismissed. This led to compensation ranging from $18,000 - $20,000 for the three Applicants as well as an additional award of $7,488 in lost wages to one of the Applicants.
Fitzek v The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment [2021] NZERA 28 (PDF, 34.87 kB)
Ms Fitzek worked in a restaurant as a Manager, she became pregnant and was declined paid parental leave on the basis that she was short of the minimum number of weeks required to qualify. Her employment had ended after she had raised a personal grievance arising out of discrimination, the Authority found that MBIE should have taken this into account and found that Ms Fitzek was entitled to 16 weeks paid parental leave.
Jackson, Bailey & Dalzell v The Board of Trustees of Southland Boys High School [2020] NZERA 527 (PDF, 3.37 MB)
The applicants in this case were longstanding and senior secondary school teachers who were dismissed following a restructuring exercise. The Employment Relations Authority found that the dismissals were procedurally flawed and the three teachers had been unjustifiably dismissed. The defendants were each awarded compensation of $28,000 and lost wages of $25,679, these awards were then upheld in the Employment Court.
