Farmhand wins $25k after verbal abuse, physical threats from employer’s husband

The 17-year-old told the authority he was employed by Teresa Greene as a dairy farmhand, working alongside her husband.

A young farmhand whose boss’ husband told him he would “knock his f****n head off” and punch his “lights out” has been awarded $25,000 in compensation and lost wages.

Alex Knight had only been on the job a week when the tirade of verbal abuse and physical threats began, the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) heard.

The 17-year-old told the authority his first week employed by Teresa Greene as a dairy farmhand, working alongside her husband William Greene and the couple’s son, went without incident.

But in the second week, Knight said it was like a “switch had been flipped” and “Mr Greene would rage at him to the point that he would become terrified of him”.

“It was Alex’s evidence that Mr Greene swore at him and that he was physically intimidating and threatening,” ERA member Peter Fuiava said in his decision dated February 28.

“It was alleged that he [William] smelt of alcohol and that he had said to Ms Greene that he would knock Alex’s ‘f****n head off’.”

Knight, who had known Teresa Greene since he was 3 through his mother, was living in a cottage on the farm.

By the end of the second week, the teenager was afraid and concerned for his safety, fearing William would turn up at the cottage and hurt him.

Knight called his mother for advice but not appreciating her son’s predicament she advised him to simply keep his head down and continue working.

“It appears that Ms Greene had spoken to Dianne beforehand to reassure her that William had just been having a bad week.”

By the third week, the situation had not improved and Knight feared for his safety when William told him he would “punch his lights out” and “f****n deal” to him.

After the morning milking on October 9, 2021, Knight again called his mother and the decision was made for him to resign for his own safety, after 19 days on the job.

“Ms Greene tried to dissuade Alex from leaving, adding that she would show him how to do things the way her husband liked them to be done but matters had come to a head by then and according to Alex he had been working as instructed.”

Fuiava said the case fell into the category of a breach of duty by an employer, causing Knight to resign.

“Based on the information and evidence before me, Alex has shown that he was verbally abused and physically threatened by Mr Greene,” Fuiava said.

“This concern was brought to Ms Greene’s attention to address but as his employer she failed to do so.

“Ms Greene has failed in her duty to provide Alex with a safe workplace environment and it is reasonably foreseeable that if his concerns around his personal safety were not addressed that Alex would not be prepared to work under such conditions.”

While Greene participated in a case management conference in September last year, she did not attend a hearing in Rotorua in November resulting in Knight’s claim going unchallenged.

Fuiava found the claim of constructive and unjustified dismissal was made out.

The authority heard Knight, who had worked as a farmhand once before for three months, lost confidence in himself and other employers and it took him two months and the support of his family to find another job.

He was scared to drive into town in case he saw William Greene and for a while, he lived in fear of the man.

Fuiava ordered Greene to pay Knight $16,000 for humiliation, loss of dignity, and injury to feelings.

Greene was also ordered to pay a week’s additional wages of $850 and holiday pay of $188.85 plus interest on those two payments.

Fuiava also ordered Greene to pay $6800 for eight weeks of lost wages, and $1125 toward Knight’s costs, plus she was to reimburse the young man $71.56 for the filing fee to bring the application to the authority, totalling more than $25,035.

The money must be paid by March 31.