bad employers

A restraint-of-trade clause in the contracts of shop assistants at Masterton Pak 'N Save has employment lawyers baffled and union delegates outraged.  The three-month clause, which is most often used by employers to protect trade secrets, stops employees working for rival stores after they leave the supermarket.

The Dominion Post was provided with a copy of a contract for a Masterton Pak 'N Save shop assistant which says the person cannot work for a rival or similar store within a 50-kilometre radius for three months after resigning.

Employment lawyer Peter Cullen said the clause was far-reaching and it would be hard to prove it was justified in the case of shop assistants.  "I've never heard of a check-out operator being subject to a restraint of trade."  It potentially stopped former staff working at vegetable stores, bottle shops and similar outlets.

But Masterton Pak 'N Save franchise owner Paul de Lara-Bell stood by the contract. "You can put whatever you want in a contract. Whether you can uphold it in a court of law, and whether people agree to it, are two different things."  He said the clause was mainly aimed at senior staff, but the supermarket would not rule out using it on others.

National Distribution Union secretary Laila Harre said the clause was completely unreasonable and illegal.  "People don't know what their rights are. They are fearful of breaching the contract and the clause keeps them in a job they're not happy with."  She said supermarket workers aged 15 and under usually earned about $6 an hour. Youth workers, aged 16 and 17, were paid $9 an hour, while those over 18 years earned the minimum wage of $11.25 an hour.

Susan Hornsby-Geluk, a partner with law firm Kensington Swan, said the courts scrutinised such clauses heavily, with the onus on employers to prove former staff had specialist knowledge.  "You'd be stretching it to say a packer of groceries has either client relationships or special knowledge that create a risk for the employer."

News of the clause has prompted Foodstuffs, which owns Pak 'N Save, to step in. Wellington region group manager Robert Kent said the clause was specific to the Masterton site only. The company did not believe it was enforceable.  "We need to take the steps to remove it from that particular site's employment agreement."

In March last year Wellington barista Victor Hsieh was stopped by the Court of Appeal from competing near any of Fuel Espresso's coffee outlets after he took the lease of a coffee cart, Beangrinder, a week after leaving Fuel Espresso.  He had a restraint-of-trade clause that stopped him making coffee within 100 metres of any Wellington Fuel outlet for three months after leaving.  But Ms Hornsby-Geluk said a barista was skilled and had stronger client relationships.

Claims that a Pakistani man trained as a terrorist was working as a chef in New Zealand have proved to be false, says Immigration Minister David Cunliffe.  Cunliffe ordered an official investigation last month after the allegations were made in the Right-wing Investigate magazine and latched on to by the National Party. 

The minister said yesterday that it appeared the allegations were made as the result of an employment dispute between the Pakistani man and a Waikato restaurant owner.  "Investigate got it wrong again. The whole story was based on, as I am advised, information from the employer and his two sons," Cunliffe told The Press.  "It would appear what we've got here is most probably a personal dispute between parties which Investigate has tried to drum up into a national security story." Asked about the magazine's claim that the man had spent time in a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan, Cunliffe said: "As I'm advised there is no substance to the allegations that were made."

The magazine article was headlined "Jihad in the kitchen" and claimed two Pakistani cousins, with links to Lashkar-i-Toiba, had been granted work permits in 2002 after arriving on false documents. The men were named as Jameel-ur-Rehman and Muhammed Anwar.  Investigate said Anwar had been deported but Rehman remained in New Zealand, something immigration officials later confirmed.

Lashkar-i-Toiba is one of the biggest groups fighting Indian control of Jammu and Kashmir.  Indian authorities blame it for the August 25 bombings in the city of Hyderabad that killed at least 40 people.  An 18-year insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state, has killed about 50,000 people.

New Zealand's hope in the Miss Universe contest was sacked from a trendy shoe shop for allegedly giving away $400 of shoes without authority.

Laural Barrett and twin sister Sharaine were both dismissed from Wild Pair in Christchurch's Palms shopping centre in late 2005 after admitting they gave two pairs of shoes to male friends of Sharaine's.

During the employment investigation that ensued, the twins admitted their "stupid" actions in writing and said they knew they had erred.

They said the men left without paying for the shoes. The girls promised to reimburse their employer.

A theft complaint was laid with the police as Wild Pair wanted the women prosecuted as punishment and to prevent them from working in retail.

The complaint was investigated but no charges were laid.

"The outcome was that any outstanding monies owed for shoes was repaid," said Detective Senior Sergeant Grant Wormald.

Miss Universe New Zealand contestants sign a contract declaring they have no criminal record, have not given birth and will not generate adverse publicity.

Organisers are backing Ms Barrett.

"When you are beautiful and good-looking and you're in this industry, there is always going to be someone to pull you down," said Val Lott, the New Zealand director of Miss Universe.

"This is nothing other than the tall-poppy syndrome."

She said Ms Barrett's dismissal from the store would not affect her representing New Zealand at next month's contest in Mexico.

Ms Barrett, a 20-year-old bar singer, beat 23 competitors for the crown, prizes worth $25,000 and the chance to represent New Zealand overseas.

Identical twin sister Sharaine was runner-up in last year's competition.

When phoned by The Press, Laural Barrett denied any wrongdoing.

"It's not what happened. We had lawyers and police involved. We have no convictions. If we had done something wrong we would have had convictions.

"It dragged on for 18 months. Nothing has happened to us and it's all been sorted out."

She said she had admitted wrongdoing in the employment interview because the situation was "out of control".

Wild Pair owed her wages and had breached her and her sister's privacy.

Ms Lott said she understood that the shoes had been released "on appro" and the men had not returned and paid for them.