Day spa made to pay former worker

Former Bella Vita Day Spa employee Johanna van der Lee is set to gain another $1000 from her employment dispute.

A day spa owner’s attempt to get out of paying legal costs to a former employee by saying there was no money to be made in the beauty industry has been ignored by the Employment Relations Authority.

Former Bella Vita Day Spa employee Johanna van der Lee is set to gain another $1000 from her employment dispute, on top of the $5337 she was awarded previously by the authority.

She initially took her former employer to the authority, claiming a variety of issues, including that she was bullied, sexually harassed and underpaid.

While her bullying claim failed, the authority found her boss Mingfei He doctored her timesheets. He claimed van der Lee was filling out time sheets incorrectly, so she ‘‘assisted’’ with putting them right.

Authority member Trish Mackinnon found He was actually paying van der Lee less than what she was entitled to.

The Palmerston North business was taken back to the authority in late-september, with van der Lee wanting them to help pay her legal costs. He said the company had closed down after a meeting of shareholders and directors on June 20. She had lost thousands of dollars she had loaned the business, and ‘‘the reality is there is no money in the beauty service industry’’, she said.

But Mackinnon did not buy that explanation, noting Bella Vita Day Spa was still on the companies register, albeit with a note it was overdue to file an annual return and due to be removed from the register.

Mackinnon also noticed a new company, Bella Vita Day Spa 2017 Ltd, had been incorporated on June 20 with He listed as the sole director and shareholder. While van der Lee had sought $1735 in costs, Mackinnon thought that should be reduced by 40 per cent because some of her claims failed, leaving Bella Vita with a $1041 costs order.