$9k payout for unfair dismissal
A Kaiapoi early childhood centre failed to investigate allegations about its head teacher before firing her, the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) has found.
Sovereign Star Ltd has been ordered to pay Rebecca Edmonds $9000 after it mischaracterised her actions as serious misconduct.
Only one of five transgressions – leaving work early without persmission – amounted to serious misconduct, and did not justify dismissal, the ERA determined.
It said Sovereign Star’s owner and director He Weng, also known as Brooke Philpotts, wrongly considered a parent’s allegations that Edmonds bad-mouthed the centre ‘‘essentially the last straw’’ in a dispute that left both women anxious and overwhelmed.
Edmonds was accused of a ‘‘gross breach of the duty of fidelity’’ to the centre when a parent alleged she told told him Sovereign Star was ‘‘failing’’ and he needed to ‘‘attack management’’ for the wellbeing of his child. Her response, that she was not working the day the parent claimed the conversation happened, was never investigated by Philpotts, the decision, released this week, said.
‘‘Further questioning did not take place in all likelihood because of a measure of discomfort in questioning a client of the centre.’’
Philpotts also acted unfairly when refused Edmonds’ request for a copy of her employment agreement, the decision said.
Edmonds’ decision to leave work early later that week, despite being told there were not enough staff on for her to do so, amounted to serious misconduct.
However, her refusal to review a colleague involved in a separate employment dispute, placing her own child in the centre when she was not enrolled, and an allegation she yelled at a child were not sufficient to justify dismissal, the ERA determined.
‘‘Those issues could and should have been dealt with as performance issues rather than findings of serious misconduct.’’
It noted the stress the dispute caused both women. Philpotts had become ‘‘overwhelmed and intimidated’’ by repeated confrontations with an ‘‘unapproachable and challenging’’ Edmonds; Edmonds suffered panic attacks and had trouble sleeping after her dismissal.
She was awarded $4160 in lost wages and $4800 in compensation.