Warehouse staffer speaks out of turn

Loose lips have cost a former The Warehouse employee a promised cash settlement for a personal grievance.

Motueka woman Diana Henry took a personal grievance case against the retail giant last year and reached a mediated settlement with the company that entitled her to $2500 in compensation.

The payment was intended to be a full and final settlement of the case and was conditional on both parties keeping the terms and conditions of the settlement confidential.

But The Warehouse didn't pay because it claimed Henry breached the confidentiality agreement when she told a checkout operator at The Warehouse in Motueka that she had "won" the case while there on a shopping trip with her mother after the settlement was reached.

Henry's former colleague was so surprised she told her supervisor, who told the store's manager.

The Warehouse deemed Henry's comments to be in breach of the confidentiality agreement so never made the payment, but Henry challenged that through the Employment Relations Authority, saying she never revealed any details of the case during her conversation with the checkout operator.

But The Warehouse claimed there was no other way she could have learned of the settlement and responded to Henry's legal challenge by counter-claiming $5000 from Henry for breaching the terms of the agreement.

In considering both parties' claims, James Crichton said he believed Henry had spoken out of turn and in doing so breached her agreement, which meant she was no longer entitled to the payout.

However, Crichton said he did not believe she should be penalised further. "Henry did not strike me as deliberate or wilful in her behaviour, but rather unthinking and perhaps foolish. I am not satisfied that the law requires me to further penalise her beyond her loss of the settlement proceeds."

Sunday Star Times

Source: Stuff