A woman's claim she was unjustifiably dismissed by Tauranga-based Bossanova Enterprises Limited has been rejected by the Employment Relations Authority.

Lorraine Edmonds applied to the authority claiming Bossanova, a company which imports Havaiana footwear from Brazil to New Zealand, engaged in a course of conduct with the deliberate and dominant purpose of coercing her to resign.

In a report released on Tuesday, the authority says Bossanova didn't unjustifiably constructively dismiss Edmonds.

Edmonds started working for the company in August 2011 as a customer service/marketing assistant.

She reported to Monique Fairlane, who was the marketing manager at the time before leaving the company in January 2012.

Bossanova director Claudine Paiva decided not to replace Fairlane because the business was seasonally influenced and the busy summer season was coming to an end.

This decision saw Edmonds promoted to customer service/marketing coordinator and meant she reported directly to Paiva.

In her report, authority member Eleanor Robinson says with the promotion came extra responsibilities for Edmonds.

'In October 2012, Paiva had been on holiday when she noticed the Bossanova website was out of date. This had concerned her, as the website was an important sales and marketing tool for Bossanova's sales effort.

'Paiva said maintenance of the website was part of Edmonds' responsibilities and prior to her going on holiday, she had discussed the website issues with Edmonds and two warehouse workers and was frustrated when she saw the issues had not been actioned.”

On her return, Paiva held a meeting with the three workers and Edmonds said this meeting transpired into a disciplinary meeting in which Paiva was angry about the way the website had been presented and shouted at her.

'During the meeting, Edmonds said she took responsibility for what had occurred relating to the website maintenance.”

Paiva was pleased with this but still issued a poor performance warning letter on November 9, 2012, referring to a verbal warning in October.

Following the meeting on October 26, 2012, Edmonds claims she found it difficult to work at Bossanova due to the manner in which Paiva was treating her and she felt she was not performing to Paiva's expectations, Eleanor states in the report.

'She was concerned Paiva didn't trust her and said Paiva had been looking at her work emails and desk paperwork after she had left for the day.

'Paiva explained she frequently worked after-hours and accessed Edmonds emails to check details in connection with various issues.”

Paiva said she never concealed her activity or carried it out with the specific intention of checking on Edmonds work.

'Paiva said in December 2012, Edmonds failed to reply to Surf Life Saving New Zealand regarding sponsorship in the required timeframe, meaning Bossanova lost the opportunity to sponsor the National Jandal Day promotion, which resulted in significant loss of exposure for Havianas during the summer 2012/2013 period.”

Edmonds says Paiva had spoken to her about the matter in a manner similar to that used in the October 26 meeting.

Paiva denied being angry, but conceded she'd probably been direct in addressing the issue.

Other issues Edmonds raised in her application about her employment with Bossanova included a Christmas party in Auckland when Paiva had booked a penthouse suite for her and four other male employees, but there were only four beds.

'Paiva said she booked the suite because it had panoramic views and she wanted to show her appreciation for the work the employees had done. She agreed there were only four beds, but said the male employees had given Edmonds the master bedroom and ensuite.”

Other issues raised in the report involve a stapler Paiva asked Edmonds to replace, but had not done so when Paiva went to use it on January 3, 2013.

In her report, Eleanor says Edmonds claimed Paiva become upset with her and yelled at her in front of the visiting sales representative.

'Paiva recalls being upset that the stapler didn't work but doesn't recall shouting at Edmonds. Winter, the visiting sales representative, didn't recall the stapler incident or any other incident where Paiva yelled or shouted at Edmonds.”

Edmonds continued her employment with Bossanova, until she handed in her resignation on January 25, 2013.

This followed the appointment of a new marketing manager, which Edmonds felt was a demotion in her role.

Paiva said she viewed the appointment as relieving the pressure on Edmonds and giving her a more appropriate person to report to.

Edmonds raised a personal grievance with Bossanova in April, attributing the delay in raising proceedings to her moving to Auckland and settling into a new job.

'I have found that Paiva's conduct may have caused Edmonds some unhappiness by the manner in which issues were raised with her,” Eleanor says in her report.

'I do not find these amounted to dismissive or repudiatory conduct, such as to constitute a breach of the duty Bossanova owed to Edmonds.