New Africa/shutterstock.com Peak Ong, a 72-year-old cleaner at Aberystwyth University in Wales, won £264,442.09 from the school after a dispute that started with a banned rice cooker ended in her firing and a vindictive job reference. Catherine Green, Ong's manager, accused her of giving a rice cooker to a student living in university dorms, where they're banned. That accusation prompted Ong and Green to enter mediation, and they signed a confidential settlement. In 2021, the university fired Ong, claiming she had breached that settlement. The tribunal said no one ever told Ong that a breach could get her fired.…