A REGISTER FOR BAD BOSSES

Waitress jobless as boss gets wrong drink

NZ NewswireJune 8, 2012, 3:26 pm

A New Plymouth waitress has been awarded more than $10,000 in lost wages and compensation after she was fired for serving a director of the company she worked for the wrong drink.

Jessica Chand, who started working for $13.50 an hour at the Japanese Steak House in New Plymouth on August 31, last year, was fired under the 90-day trial legislation.

She filed a personal grievance with the Employment Relations Authority (ERA).

The ERA said her employer Otaku Holdings acted in a grossly unfair way.

Ms Chand thought her work was going well until the evening of September 16 when Thomas Buckthought, a director of the company employing her arrived for a late meal.

Thomas Buckthought

Ms Chand took over responsibility for his table after there were difficulties with the service.

She was told the next day that she was being dismissed because she served Mr Buckthought the wrong drink.

The ERA said the employer's processes were poor. The probation clause in Ms Chand's contract did not explain the provisions of the law as required and was therefore defective.

Peter’s Comment

Served him wrong or served him right? I’ll go for served him right. How much perfection did the ‘buck thought’ was appropriate for $13.50 an hour?

Just as there are registers of people with bad credit histories there should also be an official register of bad employers where a job applicant can check out a prospective employer before committing themselves to something they may regret.

I decided to Google Thomas Buckthought and below is what I found. Jessica Chand should not hold her breath awaiting payment. And perhaps she did serve him the wrong drink; some people may say she should have given him something more potent than alcohol.

Taranaki home builder goes into liquidation

JOHN ANTHONY

Last updated 05:00 02/03/2012

ON THE RUN: Taranaki housing company Dream Homes has gone into liquidation with more than $1.5 million owed to creditors. Attempts to speak to Dream Homes owner Thomas Buckthought on Thursday were unsuccessful.

Failed Taranaki housing company Dream Homes has been put into liquidation amidst revelations the company traded under a fake Registered Master Builders logo.

Dream Homes director Thomas Buckthought said he was now selling his home and leaving Taranaki, possibly for Australia, to keep his family safe after receiving threats from suppliers.

All six housing and property companies owned by Mr Buckthought were put into liquidation on Tuesday.

The first liquidation report for Volk Industries, trading as Dream Homes, showed the company owed more than $1.5 million dollars to creditors.

On February 28 the company had only $13,000 to its name.

Hamilton-based liquidator Kim Thompson said the company had virtually no assets to pay creditors.

"There's a huge hole there and right now I can't quite figure out how it got so big," Mr Thompson said.

The report shows more than 80 unsecured creditors were owed $823,000 and 12 secured creditors were owed $692,000. . . .

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