The Employment Relations Authority (ERA) has awarded a former flight attendant $1500 after she was unfairly suspended prior to her dismissal for theft.
Pacific Blue cabin crew supervisor Doreen Salton was suspended April 1 after a colleague emailed management to say she had misappropriated company product and money.
In a meeting with airline management Ms Salton was told she was suspended on full pay pending an investigation into the allegations.
Ms Salton told the authority her suspension was unjustified as the decision was made before she was given an opportunity to respond.
After a series of meetings with management Ms Salton was asked to respond to 10 allegations including failure to follow correct banking procedures, eating leftover passenger meals and unjustifiably gifting passengers food and personal entertainment systems.
At one of the meetings Ms Salton admitted eight of the allegations but was not able to account for between $40 and $220 that management believed should have been collected on a March 31 flight.
Ms Salton was officially dismissed on April 28 after Pacific Blue's internal investigation found "the money was more than likely misappropriated".
Authority member James Wilson found Ms Salton's dismissal was justified but her suspension was not.
"Pacific Blue's actions in suspending Ms Salton without giving her a proper opportunity to be heard on the question, was unjustified and she has a personal grievance in this regard," he said.
Ms Salton was awarded $1500 for "unnecessary humiliation and embarrassment".
