The Ashburton Club and MSA has been ordered to pay a former worker more than $56,000 over claims of bullying and unjustified dismissal.
The Employment Relations Authority’s (ERA’s) decision was released earlier this year, but name suppression for the MSA has only just lapsed.
Former staff member Katherine McIntyre told the ERA she was bullied from the first day she started work as an administrative assistant at the MSA.
The hostile and intimidating environment often reduced her to tears in the toilets.
Despite an independent investigation the bullying continued, leaving McIntyre trapped in an abusive work relationship that affected her health to the point where she felt compelled to resign after six months.
McIntyre was hired to assist two employees, referred to as X and P, in May 2021. She shared an office with X.
Both X and P have name suppression and no longer work for the club.
Within the first three weeks McIntyre approached X directly about his conduct, tried to address the problem with a meeting with X and P, and then submitted a formal complaint on May 28, 2021.
An independent investigation into McIntyre’s allegations in June found she had been bullied.
In a report dated August 3, the investigator said X did not believe McIntyre had the skills for the job and had no interest in managing her.
The report found X regularly used a raised voice or ignored McIntyre, belittled her and failed to pass on vital information for her to do her job.
McIntyre was not told the outcome of the investigation until the end of September and was only given a copy of the report in November.
At the start of August, McIntyre sent an email to P and the then-president of the club to tell them the “very unpleasant working environment” had not changed and was affecting her mental health.
She did not receive a reply.
On October 23, McIntyre wrote again to P and the club president to tell them X had laid a complaint of assault against her in an attempt to discredit her.
McIntyre said the alleged assault happened after she printed out a colleague’s personal letter at work. X picked up the letter to read it. McIntyre grabbed the letter off X.
McIntyre said calling the police was “the last straw”.
She said the bullying and harassment was taking a huge toll on her physical and mental health and asked when it was going to stop.
On November 2, McIntyre’s doctor placed her on sick leave due to work-related stress.
On November 8, she wrote to P and the MSA’s interim committee to ask them to address the situation.
McIntyre said she would have no choice but to resign if the situation was not resolved by the time she returned from sick leave.
Around the same time, P resigned from the MSA.
The interim chairperson told McIntyre he had only been given the investigation report on November 6 and had no prior knowledge of the investigation into X.
He dropped a copy of the report at McIntyre’s home and said it would be presented to the interim committee on November 10.
However, McIntyre had heard nothing more by the time she resigned on November 15.
During the ERA investigation the club acknowledged McIntyre’s complaint was not dealt with promptly.
The interim chairperson said that the documents appeared to have been shoved in a bottom drawer and ignored by P.
The ERA found the MSA’s failure to provide McIntyre with a safe working environment amounted to unjustified constructive dismissal and ordered it to pay McIntyre $26,465.40 in lost wages and $30,000 in compensation payable in six instalments.
In a statement to the ERA, the MSA said it was in a precarious financial position, and would only be able to make any payments in instalments.
The ERA encouraged the MSA to introduce a bullying and harassment policy.
The interim name suppression for the club lapsed when it did not lodge an appeal within 28 days of the decision.
Attempts to contact the MSA for comment were not successful.

• By Sharon Davis