Restrictions OK
Jurisdiction Employment Relations Authority - Auckland
Reference No AA 292/05
Hearing date 7 Jun 2005 - 9 Jun 2005 (2 days)
Determination date 01 August 2005
Member V Campbell
Representation M Robins ; R Harrison
Location Auckland
Parties Vankan v James Pascoe Ltd
Summary UNJUSTIFIED DISMISSAL - Constructive dismissal - Alleged bullying and abusive behaviour from manager - Applicant raised issues about manager's behaviour and holiday pay and sick leave entitlements on numerous occasions - Respondent acted positively, providing counselling for applicant and other affected staff - Also provided training and reading materials for manager to help her develop her management and interpersonal skills - Applicant declined further counselling - Employment relationship problem arose as a result of differences in personalities - Accepted that manager behaved inappropriately in 2002 but those behaviours were not repeated after she apologised in 2003 - Payroll issue had also been resolved - Applicant's complaint that during 2004 manager only conversed with her on work related matters did not constitute a breach of duty sufficient to find a constructive dismissal - Resignation - No unjustified dismissal - UNJUSTIFIED DISADVANTAGE - For completeness sake concluded that was no unjustified disadvantage - Applicant's hours of work were reduced only at her request and at a time when she had only worked with manager on three occasions - Also behaviours complained of occurred outside 90 day time period - Part-time sales assistant
Result Application dismissed ; Costs reserved
Cases Cited Auckland Electric Power Board v Auckland Provincial District Local Authorities Officers IUOW [1994] 1 ERNZ 168 ; [1994] 2 NZLR 415;Auckland etc Shop Employees etc IUOW v Woolworths (NZ) Ltd [1985] ACJ 963 ; [1985] 2 NZLR 372;New Zealand Institute of Fashion Technology v Aitken [2004] 2 ERNZ 340
Number of Pages 9
PDF File Link: aa 292_05.pdf [pdf 46 KB]