Chef fired after staff allegedly refuse to work with him

The chef claims he was unjustifiably dismissed. Photo / iStock

A chef who was accused of inappropriately touching a pizza cook in a Canterbury restaurant was fired after several staff members allegedly refused to work with him.

The chef, John Bower, claims he was unjustifiably dismissed from Methven establishment The Lodge in 2013 and disadvantaged by being stood down without pay.

He took the case to the Employment Relations Authority but, as the restaurant company has since been struck off, the authority could not make any further findings despite stating he had a "strong claim".

The authority released its decision about the incident this month.

Mr Bower used to frequent The Lodge as a "local" before being offered the head chef and bar manager job. He did not have a valid manager's licence at the time.

In his first week on the job, an incident occurred with the pizza cook who was under 16.

Mr Bower said the kitchen was busy and he was trying to keep morale up by suggesting staff sit down for a drink together after work.

He remembered needing to get around the pizza cook and put his hands on her hips to moved her sideways, he said.

A waitress said the meaning of the events had been "misinterpreted".

"Whilst in the kitchen scrapping [sic] plates, John made the statement to [the pizza cook] 'after this we can sit outside and both have a drink...[the] meaning was more as a team de-stress after work.

"5 mins later [the kitchen hand] came to get me as [the pizza cook] was crying that John had touched her," the waitress said.

Hospitality New Zealand said the personal grievance occurred after Mr Bower "picked up [the pizza cook] and threw her back to her station and on the way back threw [the kitchen hand] against the wall", but Mr Bower denied the statement.

The kitchen hand was also under 16 at the time.

Mr Bower was dismissed the next day.

The Lodge owners Graham and Jillian Houston said they heard about the incident when the pizza cook arrived at the restaurant with her parents and the police that morning.

Mr and Mrs Houston said Mr Bower's dismissal was "substantially justified" because several staff members refused to work with him after he was accused of inappropriately touching the pizza cook.

A police investigation was launched and Mr Bower was told it had been alleged he "manhandled" two minors during the incident.

He was later told no charges would be laid but that he would receive a formal warning in relation to assault on a child.

The authority decided that no further action could be taken by Mr Bower because he was officially employed by The Lodge Restaurant & Bar Limited, which has been struck off and no longer exists.

"Accordingly, these proceedings must now come to an end," it said.

"This is most unfortunate for Mr Bower, who had a strong claim for unjustified disadvantage and unjustified dismissal on the evidence that was before the Authority."