Sidney Yu and Jing Tham were engaged by Queenstown Nursery for temporary plant work and were later selected to stop working, with the employer relying on weather and alleged comparative inefficiency. The case concerned whether the casual or short-assignment characterisation justified ending their work without a fair process.
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Results for performance dismissal
Traffica summarily dismissed foreman Selwyn McDonald on site after a heated exchange with a director. The ERA accepted that Mr McDonald made serious disrespectful comments with racial connotations, but he was given no chance to answer before being fired.
Jennifer Jacobsen was dismissed by email only days into part-time work for Cube Innovations. Cube relied on a 90-day trial even though the evidence indicated she had started work before signing the agreement and the employer had not given the contractual notice required by the clause.
Long-serving school principal Regina Rasheed was suspended and dismissed after a series of complaints and governance interventions at Zayed College for Girls. The ERA examined the factual basis for the allegations, the fairness of the investigation and a second suspension imposed during the process.
LJB had already resigned and was working out one month's notice when EBD's HR manager called her to a meeting, told her to clear her desk and sent her away before the notice period expired. No allegations or supporting material had been put to her in advance and she had no genuine opportunity to respond.
Smartrade treated Yifu Jiang's employment as ending under a one-year fixed-term clause, but the agreement did not record genuine reasons satisfying s 66. Mr Jiang was also given no meaningful chance to comment before the employer ended the relationship.
George King was dismissed by Off the Wall Construction under a purported 90-day trial. The decisive issue was timing: he had already performed paid work before signing the agreement containing the trial provision.
Hurikawa was abruptly told he was 'finished' by Walton Mountain without a stated reason, warning or opportunity to respond. The ERA therefore had to assess a direct verbal termination against the minimum substantive and procedural requirements in s 103A.
