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A restaurant manager who claims she was unjustifiably dismissed and then struggled to find a job in the hospitality industry because of rumours from her old boss has been awarded nearly $15,000 for lost wages and compensation.
Maxine Griffiths, a former police officer, applied for a job as a restaurant manager in Rotorua in late 2007. She told her employers, Todd and Stacey Tregoweath, she was facing legal proceedings which were neither alcohol nor drug-related.
Both said her issues would not affect her job. Ms Griffiths said she kept the Tregoweaths informed about her legal proceedings and also advised both the Rotorua District Council and Rotorua police of the situation.
But last February she was demoted to waitress after her employers said her legal proceedings could threaten the restaurant's on-licence if she continued as manager. Three days later, Mr Tregoweath advised her that she was no longer needed at work. She was fired that day.
Ms Griffiths said immediately following her dismissal word had spread through the local hospitality industry, fuelled by input from Mr Tregoweath that she was somehow caught up in a number of arrests associated with a police methamphetamine (P) operation.
It took her four months to find another job.
Vicki Campbell of the Employment Relations Authority said there had been a "complete absence of procedural fairness".
