A 14-year-old says she was forced to quit her part-time job at a takeaway store due to her boss’s ongoing sexual harassment, which included calling her “hot” and “beautiful, ” asking if she had sent “nudes” on social media and discussing his sex life with her. The boss denied the allegations but the Employment Relations Authority has found that the teenager was unjustifiably disadvantaged and unjustifiably constructively dismissed and that the sexual harassment was a contributing factor to the teen’s humiliation and increased anxiety. It’s awarded her $20,000 for her ordeal.
A recently released decision describes how the teen had been excited to get a job working for the Southland takeaway business , considered a favourite by her family, but handed in her notice months later, distraught and humiliated. She claimed she was constructively dismissed because she was subjected to sexual harassment, and therefore unjustifiably disadvantaged in her employment. The employer denied sexually harassing her and said staff had always been treated with respect, paid adult hourly rates, and not taken advantage of but accepted he had once asked the worker about nude images, in the context of another worker.
When the young worker started the after-school job as a takeaway food assistant in April 2022 she found that her boss came across as “more a friend than a manager”. But things soured months later when she said he started sexually talking to her when they were alone, .