Case Failure Disclose Mystery Shopper Deceptive

August 16, 2013

Posted on: Aug 16, 2013

Section 4(1) of the Employment Relations Act 2000 imposes an absolute duty on the parties to an employment relationship not to mislead or deceive the other.

In McManus v Home Direct Ltd [2013] NZERA Christchurch 98, an employer’s failure to tell an employee, who was dismissed for failing to follow proper sale procedures, that the employer had used a mystery shopper was held to be misleading and deceptive. The employer’s failure to disclose the use of the mystery shopper (not the actual use of a mystery shopper) meant that the employer’s dismissal of the employee was unjustified because it was not the act of a fair and reasonable employer.

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