Oz woman who defamed boss in resignation email ordered to pay $10k

Melbourne, June 18 (ANI): An angry employee has been ordered by a court to pay her former boss damages after she shot a fiery resignation email around the office accusing him of using his job as a "paid vacation".

Tracy Adams was sued for defamation over a 2009 email advising her manager Alan Bristow that she planned to quit her job as an accounts manager in the New South Wales Hunter region offices of industrial parts supplier Total Fasteners.

"I have been absolutely guttered by your most recent attempts to bully me into leaving, and have decided to do so of my own accord," News.com.au quoted her email as saying.

The message was sent to the company's human resources manager and two other company sites - including its Queensland head office - before being spread among other employees.

Adams said she had told management about Bristow's "lying, laziness and theft" and branded her boss "untrustworthy and cunning by nature".

"I can't understand why Total Fasteners would choose to loose a competent and reliable employee, to keep a so-called manager of questionable and dishonest character," she said.

Bristow claimed the email left him feeling "nauseated and depressed" after he realised his workmates had read the negative comments.

The defamation case was initially thrown out last year after District Court Judge Leonard Levy ruled there was no proof the manager had suffered any actual harm to his reputation, although he agreed the email was "clearly disparaging" and Adams' comments were unjustified.

However, in a recent judgment, the Court of Appeal overturned the decision and awarded Bristow 10,000 dollars after nearly three years of legal wrangling. (ANI)