The operator of a Wellington sex shop has been ordered to pay two former employees nearly $27,000 in lost wages and compensation.
In two separate determinations, released today, the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) found that a company called FritzAMS Limited didn't pay one employee after her position was made redundant, and unjustifiably dismissed another.
In the latter case, former D.Vice Wellington shop assistant Chase Kurdt Fox was awarded $7000 compensation for the hurt and humiliation he suffered due to the abrupt loss of his job, both financially and emotionally.
He was also awarded $641 wage arrears, $752 unpaid holiday pay, $2028 pay in lieu and lost earnings of $6592.
According to the ERA decision, Fox had been informed by the manager of an Auckland D.Vice store that the previous owners of the business had presented legal documents and were going to arrive and repossess stock.
About an hour later, Fox said FritzAMS's sole director Fritz Edmond Petersen arrived and told him the store was to close and he was "out of a job".
"When Mr Petersen arrived at the store in which Mr Fox was employed, the information he imparted to Mr Fox was brief and brutal. The employer made no attempt to engage with Mr Fox over the termination of his employment or the payment of his outstanding wages and contractual entitlements," the decision said.
Petersen did not respond to the ERA's inquiries.
"I accept Mr Fox's version of events and find there to have been a complete failure to apply even the rudiments of a fair process. There was no advance warning his dismissal was likely to occur, and Mr Fox was given no information by his employer about the situation it was facing."
In the other case, Tania Lee Gibbons, who had been employed as the company's party manager, was made redundant after being informed the former owner had seized all assets and stock. She was told she could not sell any stock with D.Vice branding.
"She found she was unable to operate the shop as, in addition to the stock being seized, the booking system and laptops with all the company's processes on it had been seized by the former owner. Ms Gibbons was, in her words, left with seven staff who were contracted to FritzAMS with stock they were not permitted to sell and no jobs."
She told Petersen that this meant her position was disestablished and he agreed. He signed a redundancy agreement stipulating she would be paid for her eight week notice period, as well as accrued entitlements and outstanding pay. She was not paid.
Again, Petersen did not respond to the ERA's correspondence.
It ordered FritzAMS to pay Gibbons $6095 in wages owed and $3728 for outstanding holiday pay.
FritzAMS was recently put into liquidation.