The Employment Relations Authority said Japanese Car Parts Ltd must pay a former employee more than $50,000. Photo: SUPPLIED
- A large Auckland car parts company must pay a former employee more than $50,000 after its director unfairly targeted her.
- Courtney Brooker resigned from Japanese Car Parts Ltd after saying she "simply couldn't take it anymore".
- Among numerous other breaches, the company told Brooker to take lunch breaks at her desk and made her come to work to prove she was ill.
A young worker who was told to take meal breaks at her desk and to come to work to prove she was sick will be paid $50,290 by the company that constructively dismissed her.
Courtney Brooker, 21, was employed by Japanese Car Parts Limited (JCP) in Auckland from 1 August, 2022 until she resigned on 7 November, 2022, saying she "simply couldn't take it any longer".
The treatment she had to endure is covered in an Employment Relations Authority ruling made after she claimed constructive dismissal.
Most of her issues were attributable to Ali Hassani, JCP's sole director and 50 percent shareholder, who the ruling says "unfairly targeted Brooker in a way that other employees, including her manager, had noticed and commented on, but had failed to stop".
The ruling by authority member Rachel Larmer, which runs to 32 pages, outlines a long list of the unfair treatment Brooker suffered.
They include:
- being discouraged from taking rest breaks then being told to take her breaks (including lunch) at her desk, so Hassani could see her there
- being told to come to work when other employees knew she was genuinely unwell, just so Hassani could see for himself how sick she actually was. When she did go to work she was initially ignored, then was sent home due to her obvious illness
- being pressured to sign an unlawful deduction from a wages consent form
- being told to undertake parts of her job outside, then being criticised for not being at her desk
- being paid less than what she should have been paid then facing a lengthy delay in being paid wage arrears
- having her contractual hourly rate unilaterally reduced by Hassani
- being suspended for a week without pay when the company had no right to do so
- having considerable pressure exerted on her to sign employment agreements that contained unfair terms. When she asked to meet Hassani in person to discuss her concerns, he blamed her for not having a signed employment agreement
- having a probationary period clause unilaterally inserted into her employment agreement
- having Hassani start a sham disciplinary process against her without providing her with any specific information or documents to support the disciplinary concerns in retaliation for her raising employment concerns
- being required to use her own phone to do elements of her role, then being criticised for being on her phone during work hours.
JCP disputed all of her claims, even when the evidence given by its own witnesses had proved most of them, and when its own documentation or evidence from its own witnesses had proved her claims.
Larmer said Brooker and her mother, who also appeared at the hearing, were "straightforward, truthful and credible witnesses".
Brooker's evidence was also largely supported by documents and transcripts of meetings with managers that she had secretly recorded because she was concerned about the way she was being treated.
The transcripts validated Brooker's concerns, Larmer said.
Larmer found the company was responsible for numerous breaches of the Employment Relations Act and said "these breaches were so serious that they contributed to the ending of her employment after only 14 weeks, which was a major setback for her".
The company failed to appropriately acknowledge its wrongdoing towards Brooker and had "adopted an aggressive and adversarial approach towards her".
"There was a particular need to emphasise to JCP, its director Hassani and to other employers more generally, that the requirement on an employer to meet contractual and statutory obligations must be taken seriously," Larmer said.
She found that Brooker had been constructively dismissed.
"Ms Brooker resigned in order to protect herself from the ongoing and inappropriate pressure that JCP (at the instigation and/or on instruction of Hassani) had repeatedly subjected her to. There was nothing to indicate that would not continue had she not resigned," Larmer said.
She ordered JCP to pay penalties of $13,000, of which $8000 was to go to Brooker.
The company was also ordered to pay Brooker $3000 in compensation for unfair bargaining, $7000 in distress compensation for her unjustified disadvantage arising from her suspension, $21,250 in distress compensation for her constructive dismissal grievance, and $11,040 in gross lost remuneration.
In total, Brooker would receive $50,290. It was to be paid within 28 days of the ruling, which was made on 31 July.
- This story was first published by Stuff