Training wage, suspension, job threats, a botched disciplinary - all in one probation
A car parts company suspended a worker, threatened her job, and botched a disciplinary process - all inside three months of employment.
The Employment Court of New Zealand has found that Japanese Car Parts Ltd constructively dismissed an Auckland employee after a run of employer missteps that began on her very first day and never let up.
The judgment, delivered on October 9, 2026, ordered the company to pay the worker a total of $39,040 - made up of $25,000 in compensation for the constructive dismissal, $11,040 in lost wages, and $3,000 for unfair bargaining. A separate $2,000 penalty for breaching the employment agreement was directed to the Crown.
It started simply enough. The worker was interviewed on a Saturday in late July 2022 and offered a general administrator role at a car parts yard in Auckland. She accepted on the spot and showed up the following Monday ready to go.
That Monday, she was handed a proposed employment agreement and a covering letter. The letter asked her to sign and return the agreement that same day. She did not sign. She wanted time to read it and have her mother look it over. The company agreed - but then the disagreements started.
The proposed agreement had problems from the jump. The company had inserted a training wage of $16.96 per hour for the first two weeks - a rate the Court found it was not entitled to use given the worker's age and the nature of the...
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