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Results for unpaid wages
![Angus Jowitt v Gokula Music Limited [2026] NZERA 297 - music shop worker dismissed by text after coffee dispute; wage arrears, holidays, compensation and penalties ordered](/Images/site/EmploymentAdvocatesAucklandCard.jpg)
Angus Jowitt worked in a music shop under a disputed contractor-or-employee arrangement and was paid cash below the rate the employer accepted had been agreed. After a conflict over work and coffee, the employer later relied on resignation rather than dismissal.
South Pole maintained that Xinhua Hao had agreed to resign, pressured him to leave, stopped providing meaningful work and refused to engage with him about work matters. The Employment Court upheld the ERA's constructive-dismissal finding.
Café owner Pei Su loudly questioned chef Eun Joo Kim's competence and honesty in front of staff and told her she could go if she could not do the job. Ms Kim left immediately after the confrontation.
Farm assistant Blue Hunt's employment ended after a cowshed dispute with Lance Wakelin. The case required the ERA to determine who the employer was, whether Mr Hunt had been dismissed and whether any fair process or substantive reason justified the termination.
Dallison 2021 dismissed café worker Auto John Huntley-Byrne by text after end-of-shift tasks were left incomplete. Although the employer had legitimate concerns, it did not hold a proper disciplinary meeting or provide the support-person and response rights required by its own documents.
South Pole treated Xinhua Hao as having agreed to resign, despite his repeated denials, then withheld work and continued pressing the resignation dispute. The ERA found those actions caused an unjustified constructive dismissal.
Kitchen hand Jagjit Singh was dismissed immediately after the employer believed he had attended work intoxicated and later returned to the restaurant. There was no paper trail of prior warnings or a proper investigation before the phone-call and email dismissal.
Cameron Keen's work and pay with Prestige Paving stopped after the employer ceased providing him with work rather than carrying out a formal dismissal process. The ERA examined whether that practical exclusion from employment amounted to a dismissal and whether any justification existed.
