ERA orders Auckland restaurant owner Croyden Cole to pay former staff member $67k

Croyden Cole, chef and owner of Smokin Cole BBQ, located in Grey Lynn, Auckland. Photo / Dean Purcell

The former general manager of an Auckland barbecue restaurant says she can barely stand to be in her own kitchen, let alone work in hospitality again after being verbally abused by her former boss.

Now, Jessica Farrelly has won more than $67,000 from Smokin Cole BBQ owner Croyden Cole after taking him to the Employment Relations Authority.

Farrelly told NZME she hasn’t read the ruling as it was too painful for her to relive the details; rather, she just skipped to the bottom to read the award.

She said she wasn’t optimistic that Cole would pay her the money the authority ordered, as he closed the business earlier this year and didn’t engage with the authority whatsoever.

“Getting the ruling in my favour was the most important thing,” she said, “Now I can try and put it past me.”

However, Farrelly doesn’t think she’ll ever work in hospitality again.

“It’s really strange, but I got PTSD after this year, even in my kitchen at home, sometimes I get triggered.”

It’s something that is especially upsetting because she loved the restaurant when she started.

“I loved it, the whole concept of the business, because there was no one out there doing it,” she said.

“The stuff we were doing was amazing; it was a good place to be… He had a lot of good ideas.”

Smokin Cole BBQ

According to the facts of the ruling, Farrelly started working at the restaurant in 2021 as a waitress but was effectively running the establishment as its general manager by 2023.

The restaurant, Smokin Cole BBQ, located in the Auckland suburb of Grey Lynn, was the only one in the central city to sell fresh barbecue, inspired by United States’ cuisine.

Farrelly and Cole started off as workmates, as well as friends, but she told the authority that over time Cole’s behaviour towards staff deteriorated and described him as being prone to outbursts, swearing and temper tantrums, meaning staff had to “walk on eggshells” around him.

However, it wasn’t until the end of 2023 that Farrelly said this behaviour became directed at her.

During this time, the restaurant was suffering staff shortages with front-of-house workers helping out in the kitchen to get through a service.

Croyden Cole, chef and owner of Smokin Cole BBQ, Grey Lynn, Auckland. Photo / Dean Purcell

In February 2024, Farrelly went on holiday to Thailand and said that Cole still called and messaged her about the running of the business.

This prompted Farrelly to tell Cole she was not coping with the stress of the role, particularly with organising an upcoming festival.

Four days later, Cole messaged her again, questioning the number of hours she’d worked, including a 12.5-hour shift he labelled “absurd” and “unacceptable”.

Then, despite a plea that organising catering for the Meatstock festival at the end of February was too much, Farrelly ended up working additional hours, and Cole was on edge and critical of the work she and other staff had done to prepare for it.

Farrelly personally booked and paid for staff accommodation as well as other related expenses because the company credit card had declined.

An outburst from Cole on the day of the festival, combined with the stress of the prior few months, caused Farrelly to have a panic attack.

Another tense exchange between the pair happened after Cole was unhappy with how Farrelly had priced a catering job. She was “dumbfounded” by his comments and said she would bring a support person to work the next day to discuss the matter further.

However, the next day at the restaurant premises, the authority’s ruling states that Farrelly said something to Cole, who then “seemed to switch”.

The authority was provided with a video, taken by another employee, of Cole calling Farrelly and her support person “c***s” and “f**king bitches” before telling her to “f**k off” and swinging a towel aggressively in their direction.

Later that evening, Farrelly resigned from her role and in the days following this, Cole sent her a string of messages accusing her of sabotaging his business.

Then, following a message asking about salary for the week of the festival and to claim money for expenses she’d paid on behalf of the business, Cole didn’t pay up and responded by calling her a “fake” and “pretender” and making other harsh criticisms of her character and her work.

‘Unreasonable barbs’

Authority member Matthew Piper said that Cole raising repeated criticisms without properly discussing them with Farrelly constituted a breach of good faith as her employer.

“Mr Cole’s behaviour was not merely incomplete communication or poor management. It was the repeated provision of unreasonable barbs toward Ms Farrelly and a failure to explore underlying issues with her,” Piper said.

The ruling also found that Cole engaged in repeated and unreasonable behaviour, which created risks to Farrelly’s psychological wellbeing and caused her harm.

“Mr Cole’s outbursts, unreasonable work demands and unexplored and destabilising allegations constituted a pattern which adversely affected Ms Farrelly’s wellbeing,” Piper said.

Overall, Piper found that Cole’s behaviour ultimately forced Farrelly to resign, which was in effect, an unjustifiable dismissal.

He ordered that Cole and Smokin Cole BBQ Ltd pay Farrelly $2400 in wage arrears, $34,560 in lost wages and $25,000 in compensation.

The restaurant closed its doors in July, and Cole has not responded to requests for comment.

Jeremy Wilkinson is an Open Justice reporter based in Manawatū, covering courts and justice issues with an interest in tribunals. He has been a journalist for nearly a decade and has worked for NZME since 2022.