Kiwi employers struggling to find staff - survey

Half of all New Zealand employers are struggling to find staff with the right skills, with engineers most in demand, a survey has found.

The Canterbury rebuild and major infrastructure projects in Auckland were driving the demand for qualified engineers.

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Revenge can be far from sweet

Employment relationships are personal and when one ends badly, thoughts of revenge can occur to either party.

A recent case has brought the issue of employer retaliation into focus. Mia Nelson was dismissed from her employment with US-based Haldeman LLC in 2012 for serious misconduct. The employer claimed she was a Nazi sympathiser and had falsified her CV. Nelson was employed in New Zealand by the principal of Haldeman LLC, Tony Katavich, to create false blogs in order to boost her employer's Google search ranking, although she also allegedly spent a great deal of her time "wandering around the office" away from her desk.

After several failed meetings, Nelson was suspended for setting up a "Nazi sympathising email address", hitlerhatesbabies@gmail.com, and using the password "hitlerhatesbabies". Nelson successfully argued that part of her role was to create unique email addresses to associate with the false blogs, which meant that she had to think of unusual word sequences.

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Air NZ rejects job applicant with moko

Prime Minister John Key is "surprised" a woman was unable to get a cabin crew job with Air New Zealand because of a ta moko traditional Maori tattoo on her forearm, but said it was a matter for the airline.

Claire Nathan told Maori Television's Native Affairs programme that during an interview for a flight attendant's position at Air New Zealand she was told the company's policy was that no visible tattoos were allowed.

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