A Nelson café fired him by email after a tense customer encounter, but the Authority saw it differently
The Employment Relations Authority has ruled that a Nelson café unjustifiably dismissed a worker by email, even after CCTV captured him placing his hands around a customer's throat during a heated exchange on the shop floor.
In a determination dated 8 May 2026, Authority Member Alyn Higgins found that The Deck Tāhuna Limited, which runs a café at the Tāhuna beach holiday park, sent Lyon Kawhaaru away from his job through a 4.50pm email on 6 June 2024, and then leaned on an abandonment defence that did not stack up against its own employment agreement.
The story started two days earlier. On 4 June 2024, a customer he knew, anonymised in the determination as QDM, came to the counter where Kawhaaru was working. The two had what Kawhaaru described as a friendly relationship, and QDM sometimes confided in him. During the conversation QDM became agitated and lunged. Kawhaaru, by his own account, raised his open palms in a non-threatening gesture, then placed his hands around QDM's throat, forcing him to step back. He immediately apologised, told QDM he meant no harm, and the customer left. CCTV captured the exchange but had no audio.
The next day, QDM told café co-director Debbie Wilkes he wanted to lay a formal complaint. On 6 June, Wilkes asked Kawhaaru for his written account. He sent it, then texted: "I'll see you on Saturday." Five hours later, an email from Kevin and...
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