Woman fired after three days wins payout

An experienced marketing professional who was sacked just three days into her job for failing to ‘‘hit the ground running’’ has been awarded $15,774 by the Employment Relations Authority.

Roxanne Berea won her unjustified dismissal claim against Christchurch-based infant formula maker Best Health Foods, after the firm tried to fire her under the 90-day trial, without a proper induction.

The day before she started work in January earlier this year, Berea asked Best Health Foods general manager James Gu what his expectations were, but he never replied.

Berea signed her contract mid-January and started her job soon after. Her contract mentioned her employment was subject to a 90-day trial period, during which her employment could be terminated with three-days notice.

Berea started her new job on January 17, and on her first day she helped make a presentation for a Chinese delegation that was supposed to visit. But she later found out it had been postponed.

On her second day, Berea said she was asked to write content for Best Health Foods’ website but was having IT issues.

Berea said again she asked Gu for a briefing on what was expected, but he told her to check online to see what other companies were doing and do something similar.

On her third and final day at work, Berea was told her work was ‘‘basic’’ and she had until the end of the day to produce better content. But at 4.30pm that day Berea was told she was no longer needed.

Gu said he sacked her under the 90-day trial because he expected her to ‘‘hit the ground running’’ when she started and was unimpressed by her IT and writing skills.

The authority found the 90-day trial period was invalid and Berea was unjustifiably dismissed because she was never offered the three-day notice period Best Health Foods was obligated to give her.