A Christchurch car sales business has been ordered to pay a former employee more than $41,000 after its director compared him to a “cancer” and told him he was not wanted back at work.

The Employment Relations Authority found Easy Way Group Limited unjustifiably disadvantaged and constructively dismissed Blair Ryan Leonard following changes to his job and a meeting with company director Sean Bisset.

In a determination dated 9 November, authority member Antoinette Baker ordered the company to pay Leonard $20,000 in compensation, $13,848 gross in lost earnings and $7,616.40 gross in outstanding leave entitlements.

Leonard began working for the company as a used vehicle and finance salesperson in February 2021.

In 2023, amid concerns about poor sales, discussions began about moving him into another role.

Leonard said he remained keen to work in sales but believed he could lose his job if he did not accept a change. The company disputed that, saying an alternative role was created because he did not like sales.

In September 2023, Leonard accepted an administration manager position with a $60,000 annual salary, an increase on his previous base pay.

The written job description covered responsibilities including administrative systems, vehicle deliveries, inventory, rental cars and customer complaints. An accompanying email also referred to possible incentives and commissions for buying vehicles.

Leonard said he understood the role would include regular buying trips to Japan. The company denied agreeing to those trips.

Baker found that, regardless of whether buying involved overseas travel or online purchases, the company had clearly communicated that buying would form part of his role.

However, Leonard said the position instead became that of a “glorified car groomer”, involving moving vehicles and doing tasks others did not want to do.

An email Bisset sent to staff on 3 October 2023 placed Leonard under a newly appointed salesperson’s supervision for much of his work. It also directed that he could not leave the yard without that person’s knowledge and consent.

Baker found the email was inconsistent with the more senior position Leonard had accepted only weeks earlier.

She accepted that Leonard was upset and stressed by the changes, including being replaced in sales by someone who would now supervise him.

Leonard raised a personal grievance that month and, after taking some sick leave and briefly returning, stopped attending work from 20 October 2023.

A meeting was eventually held on 1 March 2024, attended by Leonard, his lawyer and company representatives.

The authority accepted the lawyer’s handwritten notes recording comments from Bisset, including “cancer we don’t need to have back here” and “Can’t have people with your character in the organisation.”

Bisset did not dispute using words to that effect but said the cancer reference was a metaphor and disputed the meaning taken from his comments.

Baker found the message Leonard took from the meeting was understandable: the company did not want him back.

She found the comments breached the employer’s duty of good faith and that his subsequent resignation was reasonably foreseeable.

Leonard’s lawyer raised a constructive dismissal grievance on 28 March 2024.

The company maintained Leonard had never resigned and remained on unpaid leave, which it gave as its reason for withholding his final holiday pay.

Baker rejected that position, finding the communication gave the company sufficient notice of his resignation.

She found there had been no fair process supporting either dismissal or a genuine redundancy, and that Leonard had suffered humiliation, loss of dignity and distress.

The authority found no contribution by Leonard warranting a reduction in his remedies.

Easy Way Group was ordered to pay the awards within 28 days of the determination.