ERA also finds the employer had lapses on ordinary wages, holiday pay, incentive policy
A residential construction company has been ordered to pay a former quantity surveyor thousands of dollars in compensation, unpaid wages, and incentives after the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) found his redundancy was handled unfairly and that he had been working unpaid before his official start date.
ERA Member Simon Greening ruled largely in favour of the quantity surveyor in his case against the company, its sole director, and a shareholder who also worked as a manager.
The dispute centred on two periods. The first was March 2021, before the worker's official April 1 start date.
The company maintained he was merely observing, with the director stating in his witness statement that the worker was "not being brought in to the company as a fully functioning paid quantity surveyor from day one."
But the worker produced daily work logs, a timesheet and a supervisor's text message reading: "I will arrange to move forward with confirming your permanent employment."
The Authority sided with the worker in the dispute.
"[He] was employed by [the company] between 1 March and 1 April 2021," Greening found, ordering payment of the March 2021 minimum wage for a 40-hour week plus eight per cent holiday pay.
The ERA noted that although the company did not bill clients for the work, "it does not follow" that the company did not gain an economic benefit from the employee's activity.
Dispute on employee's dismissal
The second and more significant part of the dispute was related to the worker's dismissal, according to the ERA's document.
In January 2025, the manager summoned the worker to a meeting without informing him what it was going to be about. During the meeting, the worker was told his role was redundant and that his final day would be January 27.
The ERA found the dismissal unjustified, pointing to a near-total absence of process.
"[The company] did not consult with [the worker] before the decision was made to disestablish his position," Greening said in the ruling.
"[The company] did not provide any information to [the employee] or provide a proposal seeking his feedback before the decision was made to make his position redundant."
The ERA added that the company did not establish genuine business reasons for the cut.
Greening accepted the toll the dismissal took.
"The dismissal came as a shock to [the worker], it affected his emotional and mental health," the determination states, noting he sought medical advice and struggled to sleep.
The ERA awarded $14,000 in compensation for hurt and humiliation, plus three months' lost remuneration, with no reduction because the worker did not contribute to the situation.
'Incentive Mechanisms' policy
Meanwhile, the worker also won a claim over an "Incentive Mechanisms" policy he had signed, which promised $100 per completed project.
The company argued it was not binding, but the ERA disagreed, awarding $7,400 across 74 completed projects.
A further claim succeeded over work the worker performed via WeChat while supposedly on annual leave overseas in September 2023, entitling him to two weeks' wage arrears.
"On the balance of probabilities, I am satisfied that [the employee] undertook work for [the employer] while he was overseas, and he was not on annual leave during this period," the ruling stated.
The ERA further found that the company had wrongly paid holiday pay alongside ordinary wages, and imposed a $1,000 penalty payable to the Crown for the minimum wage breach, though it accepted the violation "was not committed knowingly" and had been rectified.
