A long‑serving truck sales manager's quiet moves end in a costly Employment Court ruling
The Employment Court has awarded an employer $900,000 in damages after finding its former sales manager unlawfully undermined a core supplier relationship and key customers while still employed.
The court found that the former sales manager at a Palmerston North truck dealership breached his contractual and common law duties of fidelity and good faith in the months leading up to his resignation in September 2023.
For more than a decade, the employee had been the primary point of contact with a major overseas manufacturer of specialist truck equipment, under what both sides treated as an exclusive distribution arrangement for the New Zealand market.
The court recorded that he "continued to be the principal point of contact … and developed good relationships with [the supplier's] principal representatives."
From April to mid‑August 2023, however, he began working behind the scenes with the supplier, a competitor, and several major fleet customers to facilitate direct dealings that would bypass his employer.
The court accepted evidence that the employee used personal and work channels to connect the supplier directly with a competing distributor and major customers, encouraging discussions about "how we may be able to help [him] set up the [supplier's] business in New Zealand" and "navigate around his restraint of trade for three months."
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