HELLOWORLD Travel Limited has been forced to pay more than NZ$100,000 to three former staffers in New Zealand who lost their jobs as part of a restructure while the company reeled from the early impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The affected employees included cruise industry veteran Jacqueline Unsworth who led HLO’s cruise business across the Tasman, having been with the company for more than 20 years, as well as former Helloworld Travel GM David Libeau and Cruise Marketing Executive Whitney Towers.
The NZ Employment Relations Authority said it was satisfied that there were genuine business reasons for the changes, noting that “the evidence is clear that Helloworld’s business was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and that this has had a direct impact on their positions which substantially involved cruise marketing activity”. However the tribunal found that the process was “rushed, unfair and unreasonable,” with a lack of consultation.
Helloworld Travel Limited’s Group General Manager of Human Resources, Alex Trifonidis, testified at the hearings in March this year, along with former Helloworld NZ chief Simon McKearney, with the investigation detailing internal emails including from CEO Andrew Burnes as the company sought to deal with the escalating crisis.
Particular issues cited by the tribunal included that the employees had not consented to Helloworld’s unilaterally imposed reductions in hours of work or salary. “While it is accepted Helloworld suffered substantial impact to its business and cash flow over the COVID-19 lockdown period and this led it to seek to reduce its overheads including wages, it was incumbent on it to ensure any variation to terms of employment were reached fairly with affected employees within the express terms of their employment agreements and statutory obligations,” according to Authority Member Marija Urlich.
Urlich found that the trio had “established personal grievances for unjustified disadvantage,” and ordered that they be paid arrears calculated at their salary rates, as well as payments “to compensate the humiliation, loss of dignity and injury to feelings” due to their dismissal. Unsworth also received an additional three months salary, which the tribunal capped because although it accepted it had been difficult for her to find alternative employment, “given the very likely impact on job prospects of the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, this is not a consequence to be visited on Helloworld”.
