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Waugh v H.B. Holdings Ltd t/a Dive HQ Tauranga
4 Dec 2006, V Campbell, AA 365/06, (6 pages)
UNJUSTIFIED DISMISSAL - Poor performance - Applicant dismissed at end of three month trial period - Received verbal warning following complaint acted unprofessionally when admitted drinking night before to customer - Alleged applicant provided faulty equipment, made errors in stock take and filled out of date dive cylinder - Called into manager's office and advised gave credit to customer when not authorised - Dismissed on notice - Authority accepted safety important aspect of job - Possibly faulty equipment had potential to cause serious harm - No dispute performance concerns discussed on number of occasions - Under employment agreement entitled to receive at least two written warnings on performance before could be dismissed at end of trial period - According to case law also entitled to fair warning employment coming to an end before trial period ended - Neither requirement met - Respondent accepted had not complied with any notion of procedural fairness leading up to dismissal meeting - Actions not those of fair and reasonable employer - Dismissal unjustified - Remedies - Lost remuneration properly attributable to applicant's decision to undertake full-time study rather dismissal - Difficulties arose when process flawed to extent not possible to ascertain degree of performance deficiencies because obscured by failures of process - Applicant denied alleged errors - Not possible to ascertain whether alleged errors sufficiently serious to justify dismissal or constitute contributory conduct - No basis for reducing nature and extent of remedies - Length of service three months - Retail assistant
Result: Application granted ; Compensation for humiliation etc ($2,000) ; Costs reserved
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