A hotel worker claims she was bullied by her manager who allegedly made discriminatory comments to her that included she would “never hire Latinos again” and that her hair looked as if she had “just had sex”.

Scarlet Hunter took her personal grievance against Medina Trading Limited (MTL), trading as Hotel DeBrett, to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) and while her claims of racial and sexual discrimination were not upheld, she has been awarded $28,560 on other grounds that were proven.

Those were that she was unjustifiably and constructively dismissed, that the company failed to provide her with the agreed upon 40 hours of work each week, she was required to make herself available at any time for a shift, the recording keeping regarding her pay was poor, and that company’s rest and meal breaks policy is unlawful.

It was also found the hotel’s general manager at the time, Sheronika Chandra, did not properly investigate Hunter’s complaints about the housekeeping manager, Naz Utku.

MTL denied all of Hunter’s claims, according to the ERA decision released on Monday.

The decision said Hunter came to New Zealand from Chile in 2017 on a working holiday work visa and began employment with MTL in Auckland.

She left the country soon after but then returned both to New Zealand and MTL in 2018 as the holder of a partnership work visa, which was supported by Utku.

Hunter, who was employed as a junior housekeeping supervisor, told the ERA that after she was granted the latter visa, Utku’s behaviour toward her changed.

She alleged Utku held her support of Hunter’s visa application over her head and frequently reminded Hunter she was only in the country thanks to her.

Hunter claimed she was humiliated in front of other staff on one occasion when Utku “yelled” at her for having coffee after her shift had started.

She said Utku told her she “lived in a bubble” and made circular motions with her finger toward her head, which Hunter perceived as being told there was something wrong with her mentally.

Two staff members who witnessed the incident emailed Chandra saying Utku asked Hunter in a “soft tone” whether she had signed into work as there was work needing to be done upstairs and she couldn’t have coffee on company time.

However, Chandra did not give Hunter a chance to respond to this, effectively dismissing her complaint.

ERA member Peter Fuiava, who oversaw the case, found that not what a fair and reasonable employer should have done, the decision said.

While Fuiava said an alleged comment made by Utku about never hiring Latinos again was inappropriate and unprofessional for a manager, he found that due to the nature of her friendship with Hunter and their previous messaging, Hunter would not have taken offence to this.

“When the comment is considered in its correct context, I find the comment was a spontaneous expression borne out of frustration rather than rooted in ignorance and racism,” Fuiava stated.

Hunter said on one occasion Utku told her the state of her hair was such that “it looks like you just had sex”. She told the ERA it made her feel embarrassed and offended and believed the comment implied she was “promiscuous and/or a prostitute”.

Utku told the ERA the comment was a joke and the pair had laughed about it. She also said she gave Hunter money to buy hair clips that day for health and safety reasons as her hair was a mess.

Fuiava found it did not amount to sexual harassment as Hunter claimed it was.

Hunter further claimed that Utku would belittle her in group chats with other staff members. She described it as a “toxic place” where staff were “reprimanded, bullied and ridiculed”.

Most of Hunter’s claims of bullying were not proven but Fuiava found one message by Utku was “unprofessional and hurtful”.

That message to the staff group chat saw Utku state Hunter would be working and was followed with an emoji of a grimacing face.

Hunter resigned in November 2020.

Emily Moorhouse is a Christchurch-based Open Justice journalist at NZME. She joined NZME in 2022. Before that, she was at the Christchurch Star.