A seven minute meeting cost this transport firm its unjustified dismissal defence
Employment Relations Authority member Simon Greening ruled on 24 August 2026 that a bullying text could not excuse a rushed dismissal.
The driver joined Big B Cartage Limited, trading as Transflora, as a class 5 truck driver on 29 October 2024. The small business transports plants to nurseries around New Zealand. His employment ended on 11 March 2025.
The driver brought a personal grievance for unjustified dismissal. He also claimed the company failed to hand over his wages and time record when his representative asked for it, breaching section 130(2) of the Employment Relations Act 2000.
The trouble began on 29 January 2025, when the driver sent a colleague a phone message laced with crude insults and threats, accusing him of lying and warning that he would stop helping with loading duties. The director later determined the message amounted to workplace bullying.
On 7 March 2025 the director invited the driver to a disciplinary meeting. That meeting, held on 11 March, lasted just seven minutes, and the director took no notes. The driver declined to comment on each issue raised. Soon after, the director emailed him confirming his dismissal “for serious misconduct, the main one being workplace bullying,” and offered 24 hours to supply any mitigating circumstances. The driver replied within minutes, agreeing to return his uniform and keys and warning that a lawyer would be in touch over his grievance. The director then asked whether he intended to provide anything further before the file was closed and the role advertised. The driver did not reply again.
Greening found the company had not sufficiently investigated the allegations, noting it never told the driver what the specific complaints were, nor disclosed the text message underpinning the bullying allegation, before the meeting took place. He also found the seven minute meeting gave the driver no genuine chance to respond, despite the company's later suggestion that the dismissal could still be downgraded. Having found the company failed every limb of the statutory test, Greening ruled the dismissal unjustified.
Separately, Greening ruled the company had breached section 130(2) by not supplying the wage and time record requested on 27 March 2025. He called the breach inadvertent, however, and declined to impose a penalty, noting the driver had not pointed to any specific loss.
Greening awarded $13,000 for hurt and humiliation, pointing to the loss of confidence, the stress over supporting a young family, and the toll on his health that the driver described at the hearing. He also found the driver's message to his colleague was blameworthy and contributed to the situation that led to his dismissal, even though the driver could not be “blamed for other deficiencies in the process which worked significantly against him.” Greening set the contribution at 25 percent, reducing the payable award to $9,750.
The company was ordered to pay the driver $9,750 within 28 days of the determination. Costs were reserved, with Greening noting the driver could file a memorandum on costs if the issue could not be resolved, giving the company 14 days to reply.
