Cheryl and Bruce’s 90-day unfair dismissal story
(NB All names and locations in this account have been changed to protect
confidentiality)
In late May this year my husband Bruce and I moved onto to a dairy farm in the Bay
of Plenty, Bruce taking up employment as a Herd Manager and me a relief milker.
Both of us had worked in these positions before and had done really well.
We moved from the Waikato with our kids, reluctantly leaving behind a great school,
family and friends thinking we had found the opportunity of a lifetime.
Everything went smoothly in the new job, the kids settled into a new school and
Bruce and I got on with the tasks at hand.
Bruce was responsible for the herd and Michael (son of the owners) was responsible
for pasture management. Bruce was also responsible for the workers and their day
to day management, including lining up jobs for them to do. Bruce was never given
the opportunity to do his job, however, because William, one of the owners, or
Michael would come along and get the staff to do whatever they wanted them to do.
Bruce and I had set up daily, weekly and seasonal planners so everybody could see
what jobs we had coming up and when the workers had time off, but this was never
adhered to if Michael or William wanted something else to happen. It could be quite
frustrating.
A week into calving Bruce witnessed Michael grab Rami, an immigrant worker, by
the scruff of the neck yelling at him in the cowshed because he wanted him to stand
in particular spot. We can't remember the date but it was during a morning milking.
Verbal abuse occurred on a daily basis towards both Peter, the other worker, and
Rami.
On the 9th August 2010 Bruce, Rami, Michael and were working in the cowshed
when we had a heifer turn out of the bales and start moving towards the entrance.
This can be a problem because they can get stuck, hurt themselves or, when
frightened, start wrecking things in the shed.
I was standing up behind the meal feeders calming the animals so that Bruce could
cup them, and I asked Rami to jump up into the bales so he could stop the heifer.
Michael came over and yelled: “Move back.” I did as I was asked but Rami remained
where he was, apparently not understanding the instruction. Michael continued to
yell aggressively and then got the hose and squirted Rami, wetting him and just
missing me. Rami moved back slowly whereupon Michael grabbed Rami with both
hands, his fist clenched on his chest, yelling at him: “I said move back, don't you
understand English, don't you understand what I'm saying?” Rami replied: “I thought
you were talking to the animal.”
My children witnessed this whole event and both were upset.
I was also very upset and fighting back tears but carried on. We finished milking five
to ten minutes later, so I grabbed my kids and left. Michael started yelling at me to do
something, but I just yelled back and told him I was going home. Crying, I left Bruce,
Rami and Michael to finish the clean down.
Bruce was in the cowshed hosing down when he heard a voice on his radio
transmitter, so he jumped up to see William in the yard with the heifer which was still
upset at being separated from the other animals. William, clearly angry, swore,
cursed and abused Bruce. Unfortunately Bruce, still upset at the incident between
Michael and Rami, swore back and cursed at William.
Bruce came home and told me what had happened.
The following morning William approached Bruce and said: “I don't like been spoken
to that way,” and Bruce responded that he didn't like being spoken to that way either.
Nothing further was said.
Later that afternoon Bruce was working alongside William and asked to talk about
what had happened the night before between Michael and Rami. William just said:
"Michael just gets angry and frustrated", and that was the end of that conversation.
The next day William came to the house on his motorbike. I was outside hanging out
washing and he asked if I knew the way Bruce had spoken to him. William gave me
his version of events, including Bruce’s swearing. As soon as I made a comment
about the incident between Michael and Rami, William started up his bike and rode
off.
The following evening, before Bruce finished work, William came to him and said he
was relieving him of his duties because he felt Bruce was incapable of doing the job
to their high standards. We were given a week to move out. Needless to say we
were both devastated.
Only two days before this incident, William had told us that we were both doing a
great job and that, even though we had been thrown in at the deep end, he was
really happy with our progress. Before that, on a number of different occasions
during our employment he told us thought we were a great, hard working couple.
Bruce’s employment agreement allowed for him to be dismissed without reason and
without any right of appeal during the first 90 days of his employment. Because this
was used, he did not even get paid out the notice period in the agreement.
As a result of this, we have now moved in with Bruce's parents but have decided to
keep our kids at their school, where they really excelled, until we decide what our
next move will be. That means I have to drive them 40 minutes each way to school
each day.
This incident has shattered our confidence in farming and we have no drive or
enthusiasm for it any longer. This is a shame because we have worked in the
industry for four years, and have worked on larger scale operations than William’s
farm and always got on well.
Farming gave us a great lifestyle and was an excellent environment for our kids to
grow up in. Bruce and I both enjoyed working alongside each other, and we will
never have this opportunity again.
I just hope that someone will listen to this story and help the people and their families
that we have left behind. I rang the Police, Immigration and Labour departments, but
unless Peter and Rami speak out, it seems their plight and ours will fall on deaf ears.
November 2010