Hamish and Janine Learmonth with daughter Saskia in 2007.
Photo: ODT files
A Queenstown family have won a battle to prove that their
Swedish au pair's claims of being "dumped" at an airport in
Samoa with $20 for "wrecking their holiday" did not stack up.
Amanda Akeson went to the Employment Relations Authority last
year, claiming she had been left at Samoa's airport by Janine
and Hamish Learmonth to "fend for herself" with only $20.
The Learmonths claimed the nanny refused to work once they
arrived at their Pacific resort, when she should have been
looking after their children.
The ERA ruled in her favour and ordered her employers, Janine
and Hamish Learmonth, to pay her $1189.99 in unpaid wages and
holiday pay.
But the Learmonths challenged the decision as they had not
had a chance to properly argue their case - and yesterday the
ERA reversed its decision. However, the au pair returned to
Sweden while the appeal was being heard.
ERA member James Crichton said it had made an error, "which
it regretted", by issuing its finding before the Learmonths
had filed all their submissions.
The ERA found Mrs Learmonth had taken Ms Akeson to the
airport in Samoa, arranged her flight home, stayed with her
for up to an hour and left her with $90.
"The authority must again vacate its original conclusion ...
and substitute it with a fresh conclusion that, whatever
happened when Ms Akeson commenced to leave Samoa for New
Zealand, no criticism can be levelled at the Learmonths,
based on the evidence now before the authority," the decision
said.
Mrs Learmonth said she was "over the moon" with the result.
- Sharon Lundy
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