A manager of a high-end resort facing liquidation unlawfully dismissed a housekeeper with only one day’s notice after withholding her pay - then trespassed her from an area where she holds mana whenua status. 

The Carrington Resort on the Karikari Peninsula currently has over $100,000 in remedies owing to three employees found by the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) to have been unjustifiably sacked. 

The ERA has now ruled in favour of a fourth employee, Iva Grant, who worked as a housekeeper for almost three years between the Carrington Resort and its campsite property, Whatuwhiwhi Top 10 Holiday Park. 

Resort manager William Tan was back in court attempting to defend his reasons for terminating Grant’s employment but could provide no solid proof and was found to have ignored directions by the authority to release payroll information for 10 months, significantly delaying the investigation. 

Tan was ordered four times by the ERA to provide the documents and failed to dial into conference meetings on multiple occasions. 

When he finally produced timesheet records, they were minimal in detail. 

Whatuwhiwhi Holiday Park was bought by Carrington Holiday Park Jade for $3.8 million. 

Grant was employed by Carrington Resort Jade LP as a housekeeper in October 2019 and then entered into another employment agreement with its subsidiary company, Carrington Holiday Park Jade LP, also known as Whatuwhiwhi Top 10 Holiday Park, in November 2020. 

In December 2021 she was offered employment back at the resort, just minutes up the road. 

On May 13, 2022, while Grant was cleaning a room at the resort, she was approached by Tan questioning the amount of time it was taking to prepare the room. 

Grant reported the incident to the housekeeping manager, saying Tan was “creeping around” and gave a breakdown of the jobs she’d done. 

The following week, Grant was informed Tan had instructed her pay be held back so he could check the work she had done. 

When Grant requested a meeting through her housekeeping manager, they were told by Tan he had no time. 

Grant and her partner Hugh Cotter decided to go to the resort anyway and on May 18 approached Tan in the foyer, requesting a meeting. 

Tan continued to say he had no time for her and said he was about to terminate her contract and she could “sue him”. 

After they left the resort, Tan prepared a four-page dismissal letter with one day’s notice and no reasons for dismissal. 

Tan also prepared a trespass notice and had an employee send the paperwork, which was incorrectly served through a fence at the wrong address. 

The next morning, Friday May 20, Grant was visited at her Matai Bay home by two men from the Carrington Resort. They gave an envelope containing the dismissal letter and trespass notice, a move Grant told the authority that made her feel “numb to receive the documents”. 

This letter not only triggered a proceeding for unfair dismissal but also a determination of what type of employment contract Grant was on. 

Iva Grant said she felt targeted by Tan because she stuck up for herself and the demands put on housecleaners at the Carrington Resort. 

The ERA found she was, without doubt, a permanent employee as she had worked at least four days every week for up to 30 hours. Because of these factors, they found a one-day termination was unjustified. 

Grant, who holds whakapapa to local iwi Ngāti Kahu, told NZME it had been a long, distressing road and believes Tan came for her because she stood up for herself. 

She said she believes: “It’s targeted because I stood up for myself. People are paying top money to stay in a high-end resort... we’re told to do the work in two hours and the place is disgusting. 

In Grant’s opinion he “made up all sorts of accusations and he’s done that to so many people”. 

She relied on the money as a top-up to her pension and the loss of the job had been hard. 

“The bullying, no mediation to state my case, no warning, nothing. I’m surprised he’s in such a position and behaves like that.” 

Grant said she believed “we’ve all been treated very badly”. 

Authority member Alistair Dumbleton also found her suffering was bolstered by the issuing of a trespass notice on lands she holds whakapapa to. 

“Mr Tan made baseless and fanciful accusations about her, just as he has done about others such as Ms Waters [housekeeping manager] and Graham Maheno, in cases this authority member has been directly involved with,” Dumbleton’s decision said. 

“Mr Tan also made patronising and offensive remarks about Ms Grant... Mr Tan presented nothing to support his allegations that Ms Grant had threatened management in the past or had falsely claimed 18 hours’ wages. 

“The dismissal and the trespass notice both caused Ms Grant anguish. The notice is expressed to apply indefinitely. It forbids her from entering Carrington Resort and the Whatuwhiwhi Holiday Park. Carrington Resort occupies 3,000 acres of the prime lands of Ms Grant’s ancestors. Her house is on the same road adjacent to it, and to travel anywhere she must pass by it. She has mana whenua status which was disregarded by Carrington Resort, to her shame and embarrassment,” the decision said. 

The decision also said Tan was threatened by Grant’s standing in the community and continued to attempt to blacken the names of all those who had brought claims against the Carrington Estate. 

Tan told NZME the organisation does not agree with the decision and will be appealing to the Employment Court. 

“We will also file a complaint against the ERA member who had acted completely biased and racist against the company and ignored our evidence and submissions,” Tan said. 

“It’s a disgrace to the justice system and his action put the profession into disrepute.” 

Carrington Resort Jade LP and Carrington Holiday Park were ordered to pay Grant $44,394 in compensation, lost wages, holiday pay and penalties. 

It was also ordered to pay the authority $10,000 in penalties for obstructing the investigation. 

“The Carrington companies should have known better than to treat Ms Grant the way it did,” Dumbleton said. 

The commissioner of Inland Revenue has applied to the High Court at Whangārei to liquidate the companies Carrington Estate Jade LP, Carrington Winery Jade LP and Carrington Resort Jade LP over outstanding debts to the Inland Revenue Department. 

Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tōkerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.