ERA finds that the employer followed 'no restructuring process' in the case

A contact visit supervisor who accidentally sent a critical text message to the very person it was about has been awarded more than $21,000 after her employer fired her without explanation.

The supervisor was employed by an Auckland-based company contracted by the Ministry of Justice to oversee court-ordered family contact sessions.

As heard by the Employment Relations Authority (ERA), the employee sent a message containing a negative reference to a visiting parent to that parent's number in November 2024, having intended it for her supervisor. The parent complained.

What followed was nearly two weeks of unexplained removal from the roster, reduced pay, and an opaque investigation.

During the two weeks before her dismissal, the worker said she "felt like she was left hanging not knowing what was coming next." She was paid just five hours per week despite averaging 17 hours beforehand.

Termination from work

The employee's work ended in a termination letter that offered no reasons whatsoever, according to the ERA.

The letter stated only that the directors had "decided, as per your employment contract, to give you two weeks' notice effective from tomorrow."

It arrived on November 14, 2024, one day before a meeting scheduled to address the very incident had been due to take place.

The company argued before the ERA that the termination was a genuine redundancy driven by declining referrals from the...

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