In a recent Employment Relations Authority decision an employee was awarded lost wages and compensation for wrongful dismissal, but lost over $8,000 of the award because he had caused the events that led to his sacking.

The employer had concerns over the employee’s ability to do the job and raised these as a performance matter.  When the employer saw the employee again having problems doing a simple job the employer took him to task.  The employee’s immediate response was to make threatening gestures to his boss and accuse him of being racist.  He then stormed off out of the work place.

The employer sent a letter of dismissal without any proper process.  He did not outline the allegations or give the employee any opportunity to respond before dismissing him. The dismissal was therefore held to be unjustified.

Interestingly the employer also tried to claim that the employee had resigned, despite the letter of dismissal.

The ERA held that the employee was entitled to three months lost wages ($9,360) and compensation ($6,000) but reduced those by 40% because of the employee’s gestures and unsubstantiated claims of racism.  This reduced the award by over $8,000.

Even if the facts are crystal clear and you witness the bad behavior you still have to follow a proper process prior to a dismissal.

If you need assistance call me on (04) 473 6850.