An employer who has been ordered to pay more than $9000 for firing a worker over a worthless magazine has hit back, saying the decision is "extremely unfair".
The Evergreen Food Company, a New Plymouth retail store also trading under the name Seven Up, sacked shop assistant Ericia Durning after she took home a car magazine without permission last year.
Li Liu, who owns Evergreen with husband Paul, said last night that she thought the decision was unfair because they had clearly told Ms Durning not to take the magazine. But a determination by the Employment Relations Authority (ERA), released yesterday, said there was an understanding shop workers could take home unsold magazines where the covers had been returned to the publisher for a refund.
On March 13 last year, Ms Durning asked Mrs Liu if she could take home an unsold car magazine, but was refused.
The next day, she took the magazine home with several others. She accepted she did not ask permission but said she was unaware she had picked it up.
