Business to pay for rant on Facebook

A Motueka restaurant has been ordered to pay $5000 to its sacked worker after a Facebook comment calling her a ‘‘money hungry b**ch’’.

Sarah Hunter, a chef and waiter at the Mot Hot Roasts restaurant and delivery business, has won her fight for unjustified dismissal.

Employment Relations Authority member Christine Hickey has ordered the business to pay her $5000 compensation for the unjustified dismissal and the aggravating effects of the Facebook post on her, as well as $1105 in unpaid wages and notice.

Mot Hot Roasts director Shane Holtham dismissed her in November 2013, and in his Facebook post called her a ‘‘money hungry b ... ch’’.

He also said ‘‘some b ... es are just greedy’’ and that she was ‘‘going to bleed us dry’’.

The post also said that he would let the rest of Motueka’s cafes and restaurants know about her.

The ERA decision noted that Hunter felt that everyone would know that it was her that the post was about because she was the only female employee who worked during the day.

Hickey accepted Holtham’s evidence that he later regretted what he had done and took down the post on the same day and did not tell other cafe and restaurant owners in Motueka about his dispute with Hunter.

Hickey also determined that there was no evidence that Hunter was to blame for the situation leading to her personal grievance.

Hunter had initially worked for at least 40 hours a week and was paid $15 an hour, but later her hours were reduced, and then she was suddenly dismissed.

Represented by Luke Acland, she also successfully claimed that no fair process was followed. Hickey said it was clearly an unjustified dismissal.