What started as a toilet-cleaning request ended in the Employment Court
A New Zealand supermarket's dismissal of a Ukrainian worker over a toilet-cleaning dispute has cost the business more than $12,000.
The judgment, handed down on 25 March 2026 by the Employment Court of New Zealand, examined a case involving a leave dispute, an unplanned suspension, and a health and safety refusal.
Nadiia Petersen was a part-time employee at Gorrie's Supermarket in Edgecumbe from November 2023. The employer, Edgecumbe Supermarket Limited, employs approximately seven staff and is run by managing director D Gorrie. In about April 2024, Petersen sought leave to travel to Ukraine to visit family members who had not yet met her young son. Her family was also grieving her older brother, killed in the conflict with Russia.
The two sides disagreed on whether leave was formally approved. Gorrie said he recalled telling Petersen she was not entitled to annual leave. Petersen maintained he verbally approved the trip, joking he would like her to bring back a "blondie" in exchange. At the hearing, Gorrie suggested this was a reference to a Ukrainian beer of that name; Petersen did not take it that way. The Court accepted Petersen's account on the balance of probabilities, finding the June 2024 conversation led her to understand that leave had been granted and she was not required to resign to take the trip.
At the Authority stage, Edgecumbe Supermarket had also argued Petersen was a casual employee...
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