A childcare centre must pay a former employee $3000 in damages for breaching her privacy by giving her a bad job reference which saw her miss out on a job. In early 2015, she learnt of a job opportunity at the MUMA early childhood centre in Māngere, south Auckland. When the Māngere centre staff rang Katui, the manager Gin-Cowan had selected as her referee was on sick leave. Gin-Cowan travelled to Auckland in February 2015 thinking that she would be starting work at the Māngere centre that day. The tribunal found Katui's bad reference stopped Gin-Cowan's employment with MUMA and she lost the ability to provide a referee of her choice for the job.

Source: Stuff December 26, 2019 02:26 UTC