Christchurch accountant fired three days after starting new job awarded $16,500

Tuesday, 2 February 2021

A Christchurch accountant fired three days into his new job in a flawed 90-day trial dismissal has been awarded $16,500 by the Employment Relations Authority.

Yi (Robin) Zhou was hired as an accountant by infant formula-maker Best Health Foods on January 20, 2020, but was fired three days later, via email.

The email said Zhou was being dismissed under the 90-day trial period and would be paid a three-day notice period.

But the authority found Zhou was unjustifiably dismissed as his employment agreement did not include a 90-day trial period clause.

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Christchurch-based infant formula maker Best Health Foods must pay former employee Yi (Robin) Zhou $16,500 following his unjustified dismissal (file photo).

Best Health Foods’ co-director James Gu said the 90-day trial period clause was not in the employment agreement due to clerical error, and Zhou’s employment was actually terminated under a different clause relating to serious and persistent breach of the agreement.

The company said Zhou failed to correctly record transactions in the company’s accounting software, which it claimed amounted to serious breaches.

However, the authority found this was a mistake that took little time to edit, and was not corrected until more than a month after Zhou left the company.

“If there was a serious risk the company would have needed to correct transactions much sooner,” the authority said.

Zhou said the dismissal was the “biggest humiliation” in his career, causing him to avoid socialising after he left a job he had been at for 10 years to work for Best Health Foods.

Gu said although he had some concerns about Zhou’s performance, he did not raise these issues to avoid causing offence.

However, Gu also did not raise these concerns with his co-director and majority shareholder, Yali Li.

Zhou’s dismissal email said “after careful consideration, we decided reluctantly to terminate the employment…under the 90-day trial period clause.”

The authority concluded the omission of the 90-day trial period clause from the agreement was “entirely” the company’s error and Zhou was unaware of this when he signed the contract.

Best Health Foods failed to act as a fair and reasonable employer because it did not raise its concerns with Zhou and did not offer him any opportunity to respond to concerns, the authority said.

Zhou said being fired just before Chinese New Year took a big toll on his mental health.

He said the dismissal was the “biggest humiliation” in his career, causing him to avoid socialising after he left a job he had been at for 10 years to work for Best Health Foods.

Li, the co-director of the company, met Zhou after he was dismissed and offered to re-employ him.

But Zhou declined the offer because he did not want to put himself in a possibly tense situation between both the directors.

Gu also claimed Zhou showed poor communication and people skills as he failed to inform others of an overdue account that would be referred to a collection agency.

But because Zhou was new he was not sent information about the overdue account from the supplier as they did not have his details.

Best Health Foods was ordered to pay Zhou $10,000 in compensation for humiliation, $4230 in lost wages and $2321 in costs.

Last year Best Health Foods was ordered by the authority to pay another employee it fired three days after joining the company via an invalid 90-day trial.

Roxanne Berea, an experienced marketing professional was fired for failing to “hit the ground running” and awarded $15,774 over an unjustified dismissal.

Gu said he would appeal both decisions.