Teen bullied out of job

A 15-year-old boy who endured seven months of "deplorable" verbal and physical bullying from his boss says he never spoke up because he was terrified of being hit.

Dylan Thomas told the Employment Relations Authority he was regularly elbowed, shoved and sworn at by his employer David McKay, owner of Signs 1 in Onehunga.

In a ruling last week, the authority condemned Mr McKay's behaviour as "completely inexcusable".

It also ordered him to pay Dylan $5000 compensation.

"It is deplorable conduct that is not to be tolerated in our workplaces," authority adjudicator Leon Robinson said in his decision.

"The behaviour is completely inexcusable", he said.

"No parent would wish their young adult to be introduced to the work force in this way.

"Mr Thomas was young, impressionable and unsophisticated, not equipped with the necessary personal or life skills to cope with behaviour persons well beyond his age would find difficult to endure."

Dylan told the Herald on Sunday that the abuse "used to be in my mind, everywhere I went, every second of the day" - but he had been too scared to tell anyone because he was worried about being hit.

As well as the verbal abuse - often in front of clients - Dylan claimed Mr McKay would regularly elbow or shove him as he walked past "just to be able to physically hit me, to make me feel worse. Just to make me feel bad."

Dylan also claimed he was made to do dangerous things at work.

He had once been told to climb a three-storey high, flimsy ladder because Mr McKay had "left something" on the roof of a building. There was nothing there, Dylan said.

He also had been ordered to dig deep holes beside power boxes and work on dangerous scaffolding.

"There was no railing. My feet would be only half on the platform.

"If I slipped or anything I would probably die."

The Remuera teenager eventually told his parents about the workplace bullying after seven months in the job - but remained with the company until shortly after, when he was fired by Mr McKay who accused him of being a "dumb arse".

By that stage, Dylan said he had already decided he had had enough.

He said he was depressed and, according to his father Mark, was becoming difficult to live with.

Mr McKay did not return calls from the Herald on Sunday.

A roller door was pulled down over the entrance of his business and a locked gate barred entry to his Epsom home.

The authority had also been unable to contact Mr McKay to give evidence, despite repeated phone calls and letters to him.

The $5000 payout was calculated on Dylan's pay rate of $9.50 an hour and the seven months that he spent at Signs 1.

Meanwhile, Dylan said he was enjoying his new job of six months at Peek Display Corporation.