Too young to be sued in the Employment Relations Authority

A recent determination of the Employment Relations Authority dismissed Hobby Zone’s claim against a former employee for his disparaging communications in a private chat group.

You read that right – a retail worker who was 17 years old when he started working at retailer Hobby Zone’s Sylvia Park outlet over the summer of 2022/23 was the respondent in proceedings brought by the company in the Authority (similar to the UK Employment Tribunal).

The worker was anonymised to “VLO” which is three randomly generated letters, as was VLO’s former manager “JAI”, with  Authority Member Sarah Blick noting “They are all at an early stage in their work lives, particularly VLO”. 

The determination also notes that VLO, a casual employee who earned $0.30 (£0.13) above minimum wage, was dismissed in mid-February 2023 and returned to full-time study in February 2023 as planned.

The disparaging remarks VLO allegedly made in a chat group with an audience of up to 16, appeared to relate to “a difficult working environment, being required to work long hours standing at the kiosk without the ability to take meal and toilet breaks during a busy Christmas period”, believing that staff “deserved better”, and congratulating a colleague who had just resigned.  VLO was also accused of the heinous act of warning the others that he was being investigated by management about his communications after the chat group had been dobbed in, but denied doing so.

What did Hobby Zone want from VLO?

Initially, Hobby Zone sought $25,000 (£11,000) in damages for alleged loss of sales arising from VLO’s communications, but abandoned this and instead sought medical and counselling expenses for the manager, JAI, and penalties.

http://www.determinations.era.govt.nz/assets/elawpdf/2025/2025-NZERA-794.pdf (8 December 2025)

Have you had enough, readers?

Fortunately, sanity prevailed in the Authority, as follows:

[74] Hobby Zone’s penalty claims are declined, having been brought out of time. The remainder of its claims have also not been established.

[75] While the Authority acknowledges the manager has been significantly impacted by discovering the contents of the group chat messages, it would have been an unfair and disproportionate response to impose liability for penalties and damages on VLO, had breaches been established.

[76] I also acknowledge the profound impact these proceedings have also had on VLO early in his working life.

Tristam Price - Editor