Dough ball dismissal unjustified

A baker busted loafing around by his boss has been awarded more than $8000 by the Employment Relations Authority.

The employment watchdog has ruled that Pushpinder Sandhu was unjustifiably dismissed after flicking a ball of dough at a colleague. But authority member Nicola Craig also ruled that Sandhu was partly to blame for his dismissal from Loaf Ltd in Auckland in September last year.

Sandhu had been working at the bakery factory in Penrose for five months, and had already had a verbal warning regarding food safety, when he was seen by a human resources manager flicking the ball of dough at a colleague on September 6.

Sandhu was spoken to by the HR manager, who brought in bread operations manager Elliott Cheesmur, followed by owner and director Sean Armstrong.

Sandhu told the authority it had been a joke and he had seen other bakers, including supervisors, throwing dough balls daily, mostly at night. Armstrong and Cheesmur were not aware dough throwing occurred.

Craig considered the dough flicking amounted to misconduct only, making the dismissal unfair. Sandhu claimed three months’ lost wages of $9880 and $15,000 for hurt and humiliation. Craig awarded him $3776 in lost wages, $113 for KiwiSaver contributions and $302 holiday pay, totalling $4191. Sandhu was also awarded $4000 for loss of dignity.