In a recent Employment Relations Authority decision an employee who brought a personal grievance for unjustified dismissal has failed to recover any compensation despite the dismissal being found to be unlawful.

The employee was moonlighting from home and competing with the employer.  The employer also suspected stock was being stolen.  The employee had accidentally left her Facebook page open on her work computer which showed she was treating her employer’s clients at home in competition.

On being confronted the employee resigned verbally and left the premises, but later sent in a sick certificate.  The Authority held that the verbal resignation, in the heat of the moment, should not have been accepted without confirming it later with the employee.

No proper disciplinary process was followed in relation to the moonlighting allegations so that could not justify the “dismissal”.

However as the employee was acting dishonestly by competing with her employer the remedies were reduced from $5,000 compensation to zero.

The ERA also ordered the employee to pay damages for the lost business she had stolen.

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