The Employment Relations Authority has awarded truck driver Latham Ryder nearly $11,000 in lost wages and hurt and humiliation.
His former employer Longchill Limited has a few weeks to decide whether or not to appeal that determination to the Employment Court. A costs claim in the $2,000 to $2,500 range is likely to be added.
Why did Longchill summarily dismiss Ryder?
Authority Member Shane Kinley’s determination states that the dismissal was for the theft of at least one loaf of bread from Longchill’s customer, Goodman Fielder, at around 2am on 14 November 2023.
There was signage in the loading bay where Ryder normally entered the site for pickups or deliveries.
[14] … the Goodman Fielder sign reads:
STAFF BREAD
Golden Rules
Anything in the rack has been approved by the team leader and is fair game.
You are only to take two units home & only on the days that you have worked.
The bread on the rack was not from picked orders for shops, but was being given away (subject to rules and limits) due to overproduction and might otherwise have been “used for pig food”, according to Ryder’s witness statement.
Goodman Fielder’s position appears to be that that either Ryder was not “staff” and was therefore not eligible, or he was rostered off that day. Goodman Fielder banned him from the site, which customers are allowed to do. That triggered a disciplinary process at Longchill, which the Authority noted:
[28] In the context of the current test required under s 103A, I consider while potentially harsh, it was open to [Longchill] to conclude the taking by Mr Ryder of low value items, being a small number of loaves of bread, could justify summary dismissal.
However, The Authority found that the disciplinary process was significantly flawed and mostly found in Ryder’s favour. The remedies were reduced due to Ryder’s contributory conduct in relation his failure to engage with the disciplinary process.
There’s a couple of other ways this could have gone down:
Longchill could have taken more care with its disciplinary process, dismissed Ryder (however harsh that might be) and successfully defended a personal grievance claim, or avoided one altogether, or,
The situation could have been resolved with an apology and perhaps a formal warning.
The bigger picture, which is outside the scope of the Authority’s work, is that Goodman Fielder probably hasn’t treated its service provider very well.
Tristam Price, Editor
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