Tile seller gets $17,000

A Tauranga tile seller has been awarded more than $17,000 for being unfairly dismissed.

Tile Trends, a tiling company based across the North Island, has been ordered to fork out more than $10,000 for humiliation and $7280 for lost wages to former tile-saleswoman Jan Mazzola.

Ms Mazzola was fired from Tile Trends' Tauranga store after the company alleged complaints had been made about her, including that she had been handing a disproportional amount of tiling work to her boyfriend Kevin Langford.

In a decision released on Saturday, the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) ruled Tile Trends had dismissed Ms Mazzola unfairly and conducted a poor investigation into complaints.

"Ms Mazzola was a long standing employee of some nine years and had never received any warnings," the ERA's judgment said.

The ERA noted there had been an incident in 2012 at a work function, resulting in a complaint by the Tauranga branch manager Cherie Sullivan.

"The incident and the complaint soured the relationship between Ms Mazzola and Ms Sullivan," the ERA said.

In July 2013, Tile Trends told Ms Mazzola that complaints had been made by staff and customers, but refused to hand over detailed information about those complaints.

The ERA ruled the company should have provided all available information about complaints when requested.

It said the company had not acted as a fair and responsible employer would, failed to comply with statutory obligations and conducted a poor investigation into Ms Mazzola's behaviour.

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Tile seller gets $17,000