Feeling the Heat: The Employment Relations Authority has ordered Foxton business owner Matthew Roberts to pay more than NZD 56,000 to his former employee.
Employed as at Robert’s start-up business, Matt’s Kitchen, Lita Beattie was the head chef from March 30 to August 14, 2024. During this time, Beattie claimed she would regularly work 50 to 60 hours per week, and would occasionally work up to 16 hours a day. Roberts argued that Beattie was an independent contractor, however the Authority found she was an employee.
Although initially agreed she would be paid NZD 27 an hour, Beattie claimed she received a fraction of her salary and was paid at a cash rate of NZD 20 an hour, despite the adult minimum wage being NZD 23.15 per hour.
Beattie said that, by June 2024, she was owed up to NZD 8000 in unpaid wages. This prompted her to offer five different settlement proposals, exchanging Robert’s car, a smoker, a pizza oven and food vouchers in exchange for wiping the debt. All proposals were rejected by Roberts.
As a result, Beattie said she had no choice but to resign. Outlined in her resignation email, she claimed had built the customer base from 23 customers during peak times on Fridays to over 100 customers, and had given everything to the business.
Responding to the relationship, Roberts said both he and Beattie had written a “living contract”, which had gone missing from the workplace. He also claimed that he had been acting as a business mentor to Beattie, and charged her a NZD 75 development fee per hour.
Authority member Sarah Kennedy-Martin has ruled that the real nature of the relationship between Roberts and Beattie was employment. Text messages also proved that there was a frequent pattern of Beattie seeking her unpaid wages.
Roberts’ mother had also agreed to contribute NZD 500 a fortnight towards the arrears.
He was ordered to pay Beattie NZD 23,050 in wage arrears, NZD 18,000 in compensation for humiliation and injury to feelings, NZD 14,040 in lost wages, and NZD 1,844 in holiday pay arrears. Roberts must also account for KiwiSaver contributions and PAYE deductions.
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