Winton Capital Ltd chief executive and executive chairman Chris Meehan described himself as colourful and stormy. Photo/ Supplied.
A business-class seat on a long-haul flight was not up to the acceptable standard of a high-profile property developer, and he went on to let his executive assistant know exactly that.
“That was the worst f***ing flight I have ever f***ing taken, how the f*** did I end up in seat 29 between the bar and the toilet?” Chris Meehan, CEO and executive chairman of Winton Capital, said down the phone.
On the receiving end was Leah McCann, who has since complained successfully to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) about Meehan’s behaviour, resulting in Winton Capital being ordered to pay her more than $100,000.
It is a decision the company is set to appeal.
The ERA’s determination, released last week, stated Winton Capital had no regard for New Zealand employment law “when it chose to act in the ways it did towards” McCann.
It found that the company, a publicly listed developer with projects in New Zealand and Australia, failed to maintain a productive employment relationship with McCann, who was Meehan’s executive assistant for 10 months in 2022 and 2023.
She claimed her job was jeopardised after Meehan swore at her and threatened her employment, and that the company failed to address the distress and harm she experienced as a result.
McCann complained that she was told Meehan’s conduct would likely continue, that the relationship was broken and that she was pressured to resign while on sick leave.
Winton Capital denied McCann’s claims, alleging there were performance issues with her work.
After the release of the findings, the company told NZME it strongly disagreed with the outcome and was set to appeal.
According to the determination, Meehan was scheduled to fly Emirates business class from Europe to Auckland in September 2023.
McCann had made the booking through a travel agent she was trained to use when arranging Meehan’s flights.
About a week before he was due to return, he contacted McCann to ask that his flights be changed.
McCann passed the request on to the travel agent, who was concerned that flights were fully booked around that time and that getting Meehan on one might be difficult.
However, the agent managed to secure an Emirates business-class seat at the time he wanted.
Meehan returned to New Zealand on the new flights but was “frustrated” after discovering friends on the same flight had been upgraded to first class.
He said on the final leg, the flight from Dubai to Auckland, his seat was between the toilet and the bar in the middle of a thoroughfare.
“In his opinion, it was arguably worse than an economy seat,” the determination stated.
He had no sleep on the flights home, and there was a long stopover. By the time he landed in New Zealand, he was, in his own words, “grumpy”.
While being driven from the airport, he called McCann.
She told the ERA that, after asking him how he was, he responded with “not good”.
“That was the worst f***ing flight I have ever f***ing taken, how the f*** did I end up in seat 29 between the bar and the toilet?”
When McCann said she didn’t know, she recalled Meehan told her: “This is your f***ing job, what the f*** have you been doing for the past three f***ing weeks?”
McCann said she would talk to the travel agent and alleged Meehan responded with another barrage of expletives, telling her not to use the agent ever again and, if she did, he would “f***ing sack” her.
Meehan said in his witness statement that he generally agreed with the “gist” of McCann’s recollection and admitted he was angry and would have sworn.
But he denied swearing “at” her or that he “abused” her.
However, at the authority’s investigation meeting, Meehan clarified that it was unlikely he swore in front of his driver, who was an older person.
He explained he was frustrated because McCann had defied an earlier order not to use the travel agent and didn’t take ownership of the “debacle”.
But McCann said she never received that instruction, and Meehan couldn’t remember when he made it. At the investigation meeting, he accepted he hadn’t directed her to use another travel agent.
After the call, McCann was upset. She went into a colleague’s office and complained about the way she’d been spoken to.
McCann recalls the colleague telling her, “It will never change, Leah, and you will need to decide what to do.”
But the colleague recalled telling McCann “to think about what she wanted to do and did ask her to think about whether Mr Meehan’s behaviour would change”.
McCann made a record of the conversation with Meehan while it was fresh in her mind.
The following day, she emailed Meehan and two others to let them know she was unwell and would not be at work that day.
She said she was physically ill, had slept very little and was in a highly anxious state.
McCann provided a doctor’s certificate for two weeks’ sick leave. Meanwhile, Winton Capital made her an offer.
A colleague told the ERA that McCann was asked if she wanted to engage in a conversation about not returning, explaining that, if she did not want to return, Winton Capital would provide one month’s pay on top of her contractual entitlements and that she would be released from her notice period.
While on sick leave, McCann’s access to Meehan’s email and calendar was suspended.
McCann resigned and raised a personal grievance for unjustified dismissal.
The determination stated that Meehan acknowledged getting annoyed by those he believed were not “doing their job” or meeting his “high standards”.
“He says that he gets ‘frustrated’, ‘stormy’ and ‘colourful’ and, during the investigation meeting, he accepted that he sometimes swears when he needs to make his point.
“He stressed that he does not swear ‘at’ people.”
Meehan explained that Winton Capital’s culture was to “instruct people on what to do once, and then expect them to do it, and to hold them to account if they do not”, the determination stated.
He accepted the work environment wasn’t for everyone, but said the majority of his staff were loyal and thrived.
However, the ERA found Meehan’s actions went far beyond “robust”.
It agreed with McCann’s lawyer that Meehan’s actions were “intimidating and offensive”.
“While Ms McCann would likely have been used to Mr Meehan’s use of swear words in the workplace by that point, in this instance, the swearing was directed at her or her actions.
“The words Mr Meehan used when speaking to Ms McCann [during the phone call] were clearly unjustifiable.”
It said Meehan’s evidence indicated that he wasn’t familiar with Winton Capital’s workplace policies or obligations to employees in terms of bullying and appropriate workplace conduct.
The ERA found that a comment made by a colleague to McCann while she was on sick leave that the employment relationship was broken had “sent a clear message there was no path for her to return”, and there was no evidence that McCann wanted to resign.
Finally, in relation to the decision to suspend access to Meehan’s email, the authority found it was unclear why McCann couldn’t simply have been asked not to use it while on sick leave.
“By telling Ms McCann that she would be removed from the system, Winton was signalling to her that she was no longer trusted or welcome at Winton.”
The ERA ruled that the company’s actions fell short of what a fair and reasonable employer could have done in the circumstances, and these failures breached the duty of good faith and the implied duty not to seriously damage and destroy the trust and confidence inherent in an employment relationship.
“Remaining in the workplace became untenable in the circumstances.”
Finding that McCann was constructively dismissed, the ERA ordered Winton Capital to pay her $74,846 in lost wages, compensation of $25,000 and a penalty of $1000.
The company was also ordered to pay the Crown $4000.
It said imposing such a penalty served as a deterrent to an employer and others not to act similarly.
“Winton had no regard to employment law in New Zealand when it chose to act in the ways it did towards Ms McCann. There was no attempt to seek to maintain a productive employment relationship with Ms McCann, or to explore options if it considered her performance fell short of its expectations.”
In a statement to NZME, Winton Capital opposed the findings.
“Winton strongly disagrees with the findings of the authority and is appealing all aspects of the determination,” general manager of corporate services Justine Hollows said.
Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist for 20 years, including at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently, she was working as a media adviser at the Ministry of Justice.
Meter installations will begin at the end of this year and will make things "fairer".