KEY POINTS:
The owners of a Queenstown boutique hotel will have to pay more than $15,000, after the Employment Relations Authority found they coerced an employee to resign.
Clinton Farley accused his former employer, Nugget Point Resort, of constructively dismissing him from his position as front-of-house and marketing manager.
He sought compensation for his dismissal and for wages he said were not paid to him in breach of his contract while he was on stress leave.
Mr Farley resigned from Nugget Point in January after problems arose in December last year. He had been working there since October 2004.
Nugget Point Ltd directors Barry and Selina Walters denied he had been constructively dismissed.
They lodged a counter-claim against Mr Farley, alleging he had removed the company database and used it to send an email, had accessed private computer files and had ordered business cards without authorisation.
The company sought reparation for the fees paid to a specialist who examined its computers to find what files Mr Farley had looked at.
A decision issued yesterday by Employment Authority member Helen Doyle said Mr Farley's employers had some "existing concerns and trust issues" with him when events occurred between December 9 and 12 that led to the breakdown of the relationship.
Mr and Mrs Walters were away when Mr Farley arranged a last-minute day off on December 9 saying he had to visit a dentist.
The deputy manager understood he was visiting a Queenstown dentist, but Mr Farley went to Auckland to see his dentist there, returning on the morning of Monday, December 12.
His partner called on the Monday morning, saying Mr Farley was sick and would not be in for the day.
On December 14, the weekend was discussed at a meeting, after which Mr Farley was told the matter was over.
But later that week Mr Farley read a draft letter in Mr Walters' files, saying the deception had caused his employers to reconsider his long-term position.
He then went to a doctor and got a letter saying he needed to take time off work because of stress.
In a series of emails between them, Mr Walters told Mr Farley he had investigated his visit to his doctor and that police were investigating alleged computer breaches.
Ms Doyle said the emails could be seen as having the "deliberate and dominant purpose of attempting to coerce Mr Farley to resign during a period when he was on stress leave by putting him under pressure".
"In my view, the emails are not only unfair in terms of process, but demonstrate a lack of understanding of the boundaries of an employment relationship and Mr Farley's right to privacy," she said.
"Mr Farley was a young employee, and the emails in my view were designed to cause him concern."
Ms Doyle said Mr Farley was unjustifiably constructively dismissed and awarded him $10,000 compensation, plus payment of lost wages.
She dismissed the counterclaim and the Walters' request that Mr Farley be ordered to pay $5832 for the computer specialist.
- NZPA
