The Kaikohe Warehouse has been ordered to reinstate an employee it wrongfully dismissed for calling a customer with a dog "an arrogant p***k" and pay her $4000 in compensation.
Margaret Harris was dismissed as a loss prevention officer at Kaikohe Warehouse in March last year after she asked a woman with a dog standing near the checkout the previous month to leave because of health and safety issues.
As the female customer had not left, Ms Harris again approached and asked her to leave but the customer kept her back turned to her. When the customer finally left and walked to the foyer, Ms Harris followed her to talk about the store's policy about dogs.
While she was doing that, a Maori warden intervened - a step Ms Harris believed exacerbated the situation, although she agreed she herself did nothing to defuse the situation. Ms Harris then re-entered the store and commented to another employee that the customer was "an arrogant p***k".
She challenged her dismissal in the Employment Relations Authority which ruled against Warehouse but didn't order reinstatement or compensation because of her poor behaviour. Ms Harris then went to the Employment Court to argue that she was to be awarded remedies for her dismissal.