A woman who iced a fruit and chocolate cake with foul language directed at her old bosses says she is "not a crazy cake lady".
The Human Rights Tribunal yesterday reserved its decision in the case brought by former NZ Credit Union Baywide (NZCU) employee Karen Hammond against her old employer.
Miss Hammond says NZCU breached her privacy and damaged her employment prospects by distributing a photo of the cake she posted on Facebook to recruitment agencies and her new employer, Financepoint, with a request she be sacked.
Pink icing on the cake read: "Credit Union Baywide f*** you c***s."
In her closing submissions at the end of a five-day tribunal hearing yesterday, Miss Hammond said the cake was intended to cheer up her friend and former co-worker who had been subjected to a "witch hunt" by NZCU.
"I am not a crazy cake lady. I do not go around making objects with swear words on them because I am bored," she said.
"This was an extreme situation in which it was hard to watch my friend be in a lot of pain."
Miss Hammond's case during the hearing was that the company's human-resource manager, Louise Alexandra, forced a 21-year-old employee to log on to her Facebook profile and retrieve the image of the cake.
Miss Hammond said yesterday she believed she had shown that NZCU acted with "malice".
"I'm just merely seeking truth and right," she said.
She said the remedies she was seeking from the tribunal included an order that an email be sent to all NZCU staff retracting comments made about her by the company's chief executive, Gavin Earle, and that the company be restrained from ever sending the images again.
NZCU lawyer Chris Harris said the company's staff had not acted maliciously but had been "genuinely hurt and offended" by Miss Hammond's Facebook post.
The company was remorseful and had admitted it had been at fault in the way it had handled the situation, Mr Harris said.
Its remorse, and an apology, had been expressed in Mr Earle's evidence at the hearing, he said.
Tribunal chairman Rodger Haines said he and members Wendy Gilchrist and Brian Neeson had "much to consider" following the hearing.
They appreciated the stress the issue had caused to all involved so would release their decision as soon as possible, he said.