The Employment Relations Authority found Sharna Andrews was unjustifiably fired and was "unfairly targeted".
Authority member David Beck ordered the woman’s employer, Shanora Ltd, to pay her nearly $20,000 to compensate for lost wages and distress she suffered.
The decision said Ms Andrews had been employed as a dairy assistant since 2022 and was made redundant at the end of June last year.
At the end of 2022, Shane Hitchcock, a co-director of Shanora Ltd, said he wanted her to relocate to a property on the farm. However, the employee was unwell and could not come to view the property.
After asking her to provide a medical certificate, despite her having taken only one sick day, Mr Hitchcock said he could not show Ms Andrews the property as he was taking leave.
In January, Ms Andrews inquired about when she could view the house.
"Another worker has taken the house. Your landlords where you live now said you want to take on the house that you are in. That’s fine with us, but [we] will need to have a meeting with you tomorrow at 6pm," Mr Hitchcock said.
But at the meeting, the employee was told she was no longer needed as work at the farm had slowed down. She was to finish immediately and would be paid for the next two weeks to allow her to look for another job.
In her final pay, she did not receive any money after deductions for an alleged overpayment were made and she was only paid up to January 15 rather than 18.
Mr Hitchcock acknowledged the mistake and rectified it.
About a week after her redundancy, Ms Andrews saw the employer advertising on Facebook for a "farm assistant herd manager".
"Ms Andrews was misled by the reasons given to her for her employment ending in what was a process that lacked her input," Mr Beck said.
"The redundancy was not genuine and Ms Andrews was unfairly targeted."
She went three weeks without wages, and the authority ordered she be reimbursed $4086.
Shanora Ltd was also ordered to pay $14,000 for the humiliation and distress it caused.
