Posted on: Apr 08, 2013
The Employment Relations Authority determined that an unjustifiably dismissed employee had suffered the loss of a benefit because he had to cancel a pre-arranged holiday and it awarded the employee the amount of the cancellation fee.
The Employment Relations Act 2000 provides for compensation for loss of any benefit that the employee might have expected to receive, whether or not it be monetary.
In Arrowsmith v Brightwater Engineers Ltd [2012] NZERA Christchurch 275, the Employment Relations Authority determined that the employee had been unjustifiably dismissed. The Authority noted that the employer knew the employee had booked a holiday to Rarotonga before it dismissed the employee. It said the employee suffered the loss of a benefit in circumstances where he could reasonably have expected not to have suffered such a loss if his personal grievance had not arisen. The Authority noted there was an expectation that an employee would mitigate his or her loss and that the employee had done so by promptly obtaining a new job but at the cost of giving up his holiday. The employee was awarded remedies including reimbursement of his holiday cancellation fee.
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