The theft of a black jellybean ended up costing the supervisor of a cinema candy bar her job.

But in the best of Hollywood traditions, there was a twist to the tale.

Hawera's Cinema 2 Trust has been found at fault in its dismissal of the candy bar lady, Anne Kemp, and ordered to pay her a total of $8500 for lost wages and humiliation.

The tangled tale of what went on behind the scenes emerged yesterday with the release of an Employment Relations Authority hearing into the case.

Mrs Kemp brought an unfair dismissal case against the trust after she was sacked by cinema manager Kirsty Bourke in January 2011.

The cinema alleged Mrs Kemp had failed to develop a working relationship with Mrs Bourke and that her behaviour towards Mrs Bourke was unacceptable and inappropriate.

And, of course, there was the issue of the black jellybean. Another supervisor had told Mrs Bourke that she had witnessed Mrs Kemp take one black jellybean out of a jar.

Not only that, she had previously taken handfuls of the lollies, and eaten icecream.

Mrs Kemp admitted eating the black jellybean, but denied scoffing handfuls and responded with an allegation of her own – namely that Mrs Bourke's son, who was employed in the candy bar, had eaten a bag of salt and vinegar chips without paying.

At this point, the cinema decided to call in a mediator, and that's where the authority decided things went wrong.

Authority member Paul Stapp said the process of suspending, warning, and dismissing Mrs Kemp was flawed from the start.

"First the trust obtained the services of a person purporting to be a mediator" who was in fact "an acquaintance of Mrs Bourke and a friend of the other supervisor", he said.

"Second, Mrs Kemp had no input and or any say about the mediator for the meeting."

He said the "mediator" then did most of the talking for Mrs Bourke and gave Mrs Kemp three oral warnings during the meeting.

The mediator then handed her a pre-prepared written warning.

"These are not what a fair and reasonable employer would have done."

Yesterday, Mrs Kemp said she was targeted because she made the free chips allegation against Mrs Bourke's son.

Mrs Bourke investigated the theft of the chips.

"It has been an absolute nightmare," Mrs Kemp said. "I tried to stop a culture of dishonesty."

Mrs Kemp said it felt like everyone was against her as she battled to get people to listen.

"It is a relief that those people have been held accountable for the way they treated me."

Mr Stapp ordered the trust to pay her $4501 in lost wages plus $4000 in compensation for hurt and humiliation.

Trust chairwoman Shona Glentworth said it had been a long process for the cinema team and they were glad the ruling had been made so they could move on.

"Obviously we are disappointed in the outcome," she said.

"We accept we made some procedural mistakes and have made changes in our systems as a result.

"The manager of the cinema has the trust's full support in all aspects of the cinema operations."

- © Fairfax NZ News