By MATHEW DEARNALEY
A leading Auckland restaurateur admits losing his temper and "ranting" at a waitress within patrons' hearing, but he told the Employment Tribunal that he was provoked.
The man, who has interim name suppression, denied grabbing the waitress by the arm while trying to wrestle notepaper from her after discovering her writing down abuse that he admitted firing at her.
"Yes, I'm guilty, we had a deadset set-to and she gave as good as she got, and inevitably I prevailed - I'm the boss," he said in an unjustifiable-dismissal hearing before tribunal adjudicator Jim Newman.
"When I finally lost my rag, she inflamed the situation by writing things down."
This followed a confrontation over her attempt to shut a key access door - after being specifically ordered not to - at the request of one of about 130 diners.
The restaurateur admitted subscribing to the management philosophy of United States Gulf War veteran General "Stormin' Norman" Schwarzkopf.
But he said this did not mean "going around bullying people".
It was just that a business had to be organised as a pyramid, with one person assuming ultimate responsibility.
He said he would not have used a phrase attributed to him by a former bar manager, that staff had to be ruled with an iron fist. The words he was more likely to use were General Schwarzkopf's adage: "When in command, take charge."
He liked to think he was a good employer to those who were good to him, but said his heavy personal investment in what started as a risky venture meant he expected staff to perform to a high standard, and he could be a "hard-arse boss" to those not measuring up.
He accepted a suggestion by lawyer Vivienne Crawshaw, whose waitress client claims she was forced to resign after the shouting match and alleged verbal sexual and racial abuse, that it was unprofessional to abuse staff in front of patrons.
But he strongly denied claims by the waitress that he had introduced her to customers by saying they had large penises, or that he had asked a male staff member in her presence about her sexual performance.
"What I may do, bearing in mind I am affectionate, is say to a person, 'Are you bonking that person?' with a raised eyebrow and a bit gossipy, but, 'Are you good in bed?' - that's not me, definitely not," he told the tribunal.
"I'm a familiar sort of person but I don't think I am offensive - if I am, I apologise."
The barman witness said he had heard the restaurateur make reference to male genitalia, adding that his former employer "did seem a bit preoccupied with people's sex lives".
But a former head waiter, summonsed to give evidence by the applicant, said sexual banter was a common feature of life at a busy restaurant.
The restaurateur described the waitress as a "bolshie and defiant" staff member, whose performance deteriorated after self-admitted drug abuse at late-night parties, making her increasingly "scratchy" with patrons and managers alike.
He claimed she had concocted allegations of sexual and racial harassment long after her resignation in March last year, and she had been planning to leave for some time by trying to line up new jobs.
He said she had been determined to push him into a corner by orchestrating a confrontation then arranging with other disenchanted ex-staff to help to portray him as a sexual predator to extract money from him.
Asked about his motive for hiring a private detective on Saturday to "ferret around" for information, he said he was trying to understand the extent of drug abuse at his restaurant, in the waitress' case involving amphetamines.
It had become obvious there was "a major drug-taking ring" operating there and he wanted to protect himself from likely questions in the media about why he had not investigated this.
But Mr Newman said evidence discovered after the fact could not help to make a dismissal justifiable, so he ordered it struck off the record, while stopping short of suppressing its publication.
Waitress sues restaurant owner who lost his rag
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