[10] The Respondent did not appear at the hearing and therefore no further evidence regarding this could be obtained from the Respondent. Based on the evidence before me, I was unable to be satisfied the employer is a small business and have proceeded to deal with the matter on the basis that it is not.
Evidence and Submissions on whether the Applicant was dismissed and Merits
Background
[11] In the Form F3 the employer raised a further jurisdictional objection that the Applicant wasn't dismissed.
[12] The Applicant submitted that she was a supervisor for the Respondent and was a reliable, hard-working employee for a little over 14 months and was engaged as a casual albeit working full time hours.
[13] The Applicant stated that she had been utilised to help open multiple businesses for the owner, Mr Chen, and had a strong positive working relationship with managers and staff and had established or contributed to a loyal customer base for the business. Part of the Applicant's duties included rostering staff, time sheets and generally helping the business to run smoothly.
[14] The Applicant believed her dismissal was initiated out of personal feelings by Ms Wang, the ex-wife of the owner, Mr Chen, who was recently brought into the business to assist after the previous general manager of the company was dismissed in November 2021. The Applicant said both Ms Wang and Mr Chen (on separate calls) asked her to post in the group chat that Ms Wang was Mr Chen's wife, and she would be making business decisions in place of the former manager Monique.
[15] The Applicant submitted that she had been sat down at various times by Ms Wang and pushed to resign, with Ms Wang even stating that the Applicant could "go to Fair Work with Monique If you want, we don't care". The Applicant submitted that in the same conversation, after she logically explained things to Ms Wang, she would always completely change her mind and become friendly and tell the Applicant that everything was fine. The Applicant submitted that it was her belief that the reason for these unsettling and very confusing "chats" revolved around the fact that the Applicant still spoke with the former general manager, (although they requested, she stop all communication), and her disagreeing with some of Ms Wang's "orders" and offering alternative solutions. The Applicant submitted that she did this respectfully, and with the business's best interests at heart.
[16] The Applicant gave evidence that Ms Wang came on board in December 2021. The Applicant said that Sens Café makes less money than the new venture Goya, so Sens staff were constantly pulled to work at Goya, often to the detriment of the business and staff that had to work consistently understaffed and stressed. The Applicant said she brought this up in a text chain between managers as it was an ongoing problem not being addressed and Ms Wang took exception to these texts. The Applicant said she messaged Ms Wang personally after this to clarify.
