ERA rules employee breached settlement agreement years prior
A former employee of Analytica Laboratories Limited has been ordered to pay $2,250 for telling her ex-manager that they were "awful" and had "a small brain."
The Employment Relations Authority (ERA) issued the order against Alice Knowles, ruling that she has not complied with the settlement agreement she signed with Analytica in May 2022.
The agreement states that both parties are not allowed to "make negative or disparaging comments about each other," with Knowles further confirming that she "will not seek to make contact with any current employee of Analytica without that employee's prior consent."
'Small brain' message to manager
But the ERA found that Knowles breached this settlement agreement after she sent a message to Analytica's Business Manager on LinkedIn in February this year, where she called them an "awful manager, that they had a small brain, and that they had bullied a person into resigning."
Knowles also told the manager that they had been "manipulated by former employees of Analytica" and that she was "happy to see the Wellington lab had closed."
"The comments made by Ms. Knowles were clearly critical of the Business Manager and Analytica and designed to be derogatory," said ERA member Rowan Anderson.
"Ms Knowles' sending of the message on 6 February 2024 also breached the settlement in that it required she obtain prior consent before contacting any current employee of Analytica."
ERA: 'Unsatisfactory' apology
Knowles attempted to provide an apology via email, but Anderson said its content was "clearly unsatisfactory."
"I find, for reasons including that the content suggested the Business Manager was wrong about historical matters relating to the business and implying fault as to the ending of the employment relationship, that the correspondence of 19 February 2024 compounded the breach rather than resolved it," he said.
The ERA member then ordered Knowles to pay Analytica $2,250 as a contribution towards the costs it incurred.
It also issued a compliance order to ensure that Knowles is compliant with the terms of the settlement agreement.
"Failure by Ms Knowles to comply with the Authority's compliance order may result in Analytica Laboratories Limited applying to the Employment Court for compliance," Anderson warned.
