Sandra Mulqueen was fired from The Merino Story (TMS) clothing store in Milton in October 2021, following a seven-and-a-half-year stint as a retail saleswoman.
The dismissal occurred following a complaint from a customer saying Ms Mulqueen had been "ramming anti-vaccine info" at them during a visit to the shop the previous month.
The complainant went on to say Ms Mulqueen was persistent in presenting her anti-vaccine views, leading them to feel they "couldn’t get out of there fast enough" and "had to flee".
In July 2021, TMS had emailed all staff expressing concern over controversial topics being discussed in the workplace, including Covid, Covid vaccinations, political comments and legalising cannabis.
This had arisen in part due to concerns Ms Mulqueen had a track record of "pushing her personal beliefs on customers within the store during work hours".
This had led to earlier customer complaints, although these were not disclosed directly to Ms Mulqueen, leading her to believe she had a good track record.
When she learnt of the September 2021 complaint, Ms Mulqueen said a family emergency on the day in question may have made her "disagreeable", apologised and offered to apologise to the customer.
However, on September 29, TMS terminated her employment by email.
Following the dismissal, Ms Mulqueen went to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) to seek compensation from her former employer, arguing she had been unjustifiably dismissed.
The ERA released its decision last week, awarding Ms Mulqueen lost remuneration of $8018.65, and compensation of $10,800.
In its decision, the authority said TMS had not followed a fair and reasonable process before dismissing Ms Mulqueen.
The decision noted the customer’s complaint lacked detail, including who started the conversation about Covid vaccinations.
It was unreasonable for TMS to accept what the customer said while at the same time discounting a long-serving employee’s response without further investigation, noting that TMS had previously written a reference saying Ms Mulqueen was "hardworking, honest, and loyal".
The company did not meet Ms Mulqueen (due to Covid lockdowns) or disclose historical customer concerns, and it was unclear how one customer’s view could bring its name into disrepute, as TMS claimed.
"Together with Ms Mulqueen’s clean disciplinary record, explanations and all the circumstances, I struggle to see how an isolated incident such as the one for which Ms Mulqueen was dismissed could reasonably justify a conclusion of serious misconduct warranting summary dismissal."
Ms Mulqueen had sought $25,000 in compensation, citing the significance of losing her job in such a "disgraceful" way in a small community.
