A chef will receive a payout of over $86,000 following his unjustifiable sacking while overseas. Ramesh Nath worked at the Spice Room restaurant in the South Island between September 2016 and April 2018, wherein March 2018 he applied for three months of annual leave. After his employer confirmed this, he bought a return ticket to India. During his time in India, the Spice Room hired another chef to replace Nath.
According to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA), the Spice Room claimed that Nath was not coming back. The ERA said that the restaurant assumed that Nath would not return based on the fact that he did not contact the restaurant while he was on holiday. Upon his return home, Nath was stopped in the Hong Kong airport for 36 hours as his admittance into the country had been revoked. Immigration New Zealand had cancelled his permit after being told by the Spice Room that Nath was not coming back, and they could not guarantee a job.
Nath had been working between 50 and 60 hours a week for the Spice Room but had only been getting paid for 30. Because of this, it has been ordered that he receives $54,238.06 in unpaid wages. Furthermore, the Spice Room also has to pay him $10,424.96 as reimbursement for lost wages and $22,000 as compensation for hurt, humiliation and injury to feelings. Nath will receive $86,663.02.
