A woman who had a picture of a scornful cake she made about her former employers splashed all over social media has been awarded more than $150,000 in damages.

The Human Rights Tribunal has ordered NZ Credit Union Baywide to pay Karen Hammond $168,000 in damages.

In 2012 Karen Hammond left the company, not long after she baked a cake iced with a number of phrases relating to her time at the company.

A young employee at Ms Hammond's former company was then forced to take a screenshot of the cake.

That picture was then circulated to recruitment firms, as well as her new employer.

Ms Hammond described these actions as a malicious attempt to ruin her reputation, the tribunal also ordered NZ Credit Union Baywide to apologise.