Pub owner ordered to pay staff $32k
A company owned by a woman who took over a small Tararua town’s only pub has been ordered to pay a dozen former staff more than $30,000.
The Employment Relations Authority ruling comes after staff took legal action against Eketahuna pub lessee Laura Aldworth.
The legal action is a far cry from what people may have expected when Aldworth took over the pub in mid-2015. It was fully renovated after being shut for a month, with then-Tararua Mayor Roly Ellis cutting a ribbon at the official opening.
Aldworth talked about threeyear apprenticeships for the town’s young people, but was in charge for all of three months - and her company, Eketahuna Inn Family Restaurant, must now pay 14 former staff a total of $32,171.60.
In his decision, Employment Relations Authority member Michael Loftus said Aldworth had run the pub as a restaurant and accommodation business for three months.
She promised to pay all staff, bar one, $17 an hour - the other was to be paid $18 an hour - but there were payroll issues from the start. However, staff kept working as they ‘‘knew and trusted’’ Aldworth, Loftus said.
She made promises of payment, and forwarded money to staff on an ad-hoc basis, but kept no wage records of her own.
The slack payment process saw staff keep their own time and wage records, Loftus said.
They were also asked to help pay for services on behalf of the business, with promise of prompt repayment.
Aldworth did not turn up to the authority hearing, but the staff records were available, Loftus said.
She had been tracked to a Palmerston North address, where documents were served on her, but she had since left that address and was unable to be found.
‘‘Ms Aldworth ... is trying her best to be uncontactable,’’ Loftus said.