Woman wins $25,000 compo after losing job while on maternity leave

A woman has been awarded $12,999 for lost wages and $12,000 for loss of dignity after being dismissed while on maternity leave. Photo / File

A sacked property manager has won $25,000 compensation after the Employment Relations Authority ruled she was unjustifiably dismissed.

Pregnancy complications saw Tyler Humby take early maternity leave from Summit Property Management in March 2017.

On October 5, she emailed her Nelson-based manager, telling him she planned to return to work on November 1, 2017.

But on October 30, Humby was called in for a disciplinary meeting that saw her employment terminated, with one month's pay.

Before going on maternity leave, Humby had been in dispute with her manager, who alleged she had not attended a Tenancy Tribunal Hearing after being told to do so. Humby denied she had been instructed to attend the hearing, and said she had thought another property manager would do so.

He also maintained that she had told him Havelock North properties under her management had been renovated to meet compliance standards when they had not, and had raised concerns about lost business.

ERA member Helen Doyle found that Summit said she was not satisfied that there had been a full and fair investigation into the allegations of misconduct, and that Humby was not given sufficient opportunity to tell her side of the story.

The property manager did not have access to her work files and had to rely on her memory during the October 30 meeting.

Doyle also noted that after she had been hospitalised with a serious complication to her pregnancy, Humby emailed her employer to say the unexpected pressure of the misconduct allegations had "not helped the situation". Summit responded that it had held off a meeting due to Humby's medical leave.

Humby said she felt humiliated by her dismissal and that "word was getting around the small town that she was dishonest", Doyle relates in her determination.

Doyle found there had been "procedural and substantive unfairness" and awarded Humby $12,999 for lost wages and $12,000 for loss of dignity.