Worker wins dispute over dismissal

A worker at a Christchurch icecream store has been awarded more than $8000 after being unjustifiably dismissed following an argument with her boss on Facebook.

The Employment Relations Authority awarded the former store manager $3100 in lost wages, and $5000 compensation for hurt and humiliation caused by the dismissal.

The issue began in March 2020, when the worker was informed that she was to be paid only 80 per cent of her previous month’s wages during the lockdown. She believed that her employer had applied for significantly more than this on her behalf through the wage subsidy scheme.

The worker thought that 80 per cent of her March wages did not fairly represent her usual working hours, as she had self-isolated during the period because she had served customers from the Ruby Princess cruise ship.

The company, Caisteal An Ime Ltd. was represented at the authority hearing by its director, Darren Angus. He emailed his employees in March telling them that the company had applied for the wage subsidy on their behalf, and that employees would be paid 80 per cent of the hours they had worked in the previous month.

The worker was concerned that the amount would be lower than the subsidy payments, and expressed this in an email to Angus stating:

‘‘Sorry your accountants are full of BS.’’

Angus replied the following day, in a long email which stated ‘‘we are not the social services’’.

The email went on to say that until the lockdown ended, the icecream store would follow the payment process outlined in the initial email.

The worker was not happy with this position, and expressed this in a number of short emails.

On April 5, she made a comment on a community Facebook group complaining that the business she worked for had received the wage subsidy but had not paid its workers.

Angus commented on the Facebook post, ‘‘Nice way to resign’’. The worker responded with the comment, ‘‘Yeah, I resign’’.

Two weeks later, she received a payslip with the note ‘‘This is final pay’’. She then texted Angus, stating that she had not resigned. Angus then sent the worker an email stating that he considered her April 5 Facebook post as a resignation.

Authority member Claire English found that the worker did not resign. Angus’s actions had amounted to him ‘‘sending away’’ the worker, and it was an unjustified constructive dismissal.

‘‘It was Angus who suggested that she had [resigned], by using the word ‘resignation’, in the context of an unresolved dispute about the payment of the applicant’s wages. Angus then decided to treat this short exchange as a resignation, but did not convey this to the applicant,’’ English said

The mechanism of a Facebook post was insufficient evidence of resignation, English said.

Because the woman was unjustifiably dismissed, she was entitled to reimbursement of lost wages.

During the hearing, Angus suggested that her Facebook post amounted to libel, which should remove any rights to compensation the worker might have. Libel was not a relevant concept in an employment context, English said.

The worker had been with the business since 2018. She said she had considered Angus a friend.