During her time with Wholesale Solutions, its revenue increased from $40,000 to $200,000 a month.
“To go from being a valuable member of staff to being treated so poorly and this campaign of escalating put-downs, undermining and name-calling … it really hurt.”
Parsons has taken a personal grievance to the Employment Relations Authority against Wholesale Solutions, which was represented by the company’s chief executive and sole director, Craig Relph’s wife, Nicola Relph.
But Wholesale Solutions, which is the sister company to Adulttoymegastore, denies Parsons’ claims and has counterclaimed.
It said Parsons had misrepresented events that had a perfectly innocent explanation and accused her of accessing its computer systems after she left.
This week, the authority heard details of the disputed events, and both Craig Relph and Parsons became emotional while giving evidence.
Parsons told the authority she initially had a good working relationship with the Relphs and that they regularly socialised together outside work.
The hearing heard that problems began in 2023, during a buying trip to Hong Kong, when the two argued in a taxi about products they’d seen.
Parsons had been impressed with prosthetic underpants and bras, offering benefits to people who were transitioning.
But she felt they only came in white, so they were less likely to appeal to people with darker skin tones.
She says when she voiced this concern, Craig mocked her, suggesting the supplier should produce them in as many shades as makeup.
But Craig said Parsons was the one upset and that she saw something in the product that wasn’t there.
Condoms & te reo
Following their trip, an issue arose about an order of condoms that were reportedly too small.
Parsons told the authority she felt she’d been blamed, even though Craig was responsible for purchasing them.
Craig denied blaming Parsons and said it was a question of whether they had got the sizing right and what to do to resolve it.
Parsons told the authority that after the trip to Hong Kong, the tone of their interactions changed.
She said he sent her derogatory emails, undermining her to her team and suppliers.
But Craig denied this, saying that in the months before her departure he was out of the office due to illness, a skiing holiday, and work commitments.
He said the emails were taken out of context, explaining they would exchange an estimated 3000-4000 emails each year, not including emails from suppliers.
“She was making everything out to be an issue; we’ve got 3000 emails [between us] over a year, and we’ve got a couple of emails, which, when taken out of context, look like something they are not,” he said.
“She’s just trying to make things up that aren’t there and wrap a story around it.”
The authority also heard Craig object to Parsons using the words “kia ora” and “ngā mihi” in her correspondence.
Parsons told the authority she felt singled out because he didn’t ask anyone else to stop using te reo in their correspondence.
But Craig said he was upset that Parsons had ignored his directive not to use te reo in her correspondence with customers, because he believed that sex toys were taboo in Māori culture, “so we’ve got to be careful about where we use it”.
Former business and product development manager at Wholesale Solutions Limited, Taslim Parsons.
The straw that broke the camel’s back
Parsons told the authority the final straw was when her can of Coke disappeared from the office fridge in September 2024.
Craig admitted taking the Coke, but said he’d taken it by mistake after pulling it from a section of the fridge that only he and his wife used.
She said he’d left the building soon after to collect small change from his car to reimburse her for the Coke, which he put on her desk.
She said that showed how petty and punitive he was.
“This was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
“I was forced to resign because it was never going to get any better and I’d seen him do it to other people,” she said.
But Craig has a different recollection, saying he apologised when he realised the drink was Parsons’ and that the incident at the desk occurred two hours later, after he was made aware she was still upset.
He said he’d collected the change from his top drawer and hadn’t left the building as Parsons claimed.
When he’d placed it on her desk, he said she hadn’t swiped the coins away and told him to “f* off” as she’d said but instead had thrown the money at him and said, “I don’t want your f*** money.”
Meanwhile, CCTV footage recording the incident can’t be found.
Parsons left the office after the incident and resigned two days later, which was followed by a formal complaint.
The company said it investigated Parsons’ claims independently, but Parsons said her claims were never properly investigated.
What’s being sought
Wholesale Solutions says Parsons accessed the company’s social media accounts after she’d left her job to lay a complaint with Instagram against the Adult Megastore account.
On a second occasion, it said she posted a post from her new business on a Wholesale Solutions Instagram account. Parsons admitted to reposting it but told the authority she’d done it in error. She denied making the complaint.
At the hearing, it also emerged that Parsons had left her social media passwords with the organisation when she left Wholesale Solutions, but the company didn’t realise she still had admin rights until 18 months after she resigned, when the parties attempted mediation.
The Relphs claim that Parsons’ behaviour was vindictive and dishonest.
But Parsons said the proceedings had taken a huge toll on her, affecting her financially, emotionally and personally.
Parsons is claiming $40,000 for unjustified dismissal, $10,000 for unjustified disadvantage, and compensation for loss of earnings and legal costs.
Parsons said Wholesale Solutions’ counterclaim, including for penalties, damages, deletion of confidential material, interest and legal costs, was false and was being used to intimidate her from taking her personal grievance.
Wholesale Solutions denies this.
Authority member Sarah Kennedy-Martin said she hoped to release her decision within three months.
Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently, she was working as a media adviser at the Ministry of Justice.
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