A Marlborough aviation firm unjustifiably dismissed its only pilot, Employment Relations Authority member Alyn Higgins ruled on 15 September 2026.
The chief pilot had flown for RidgeAir Limited for 15 years, since 2010, as the small operator’s only employee, when the business started running into trouble in 2024. RidgeAir opened talks about a redundancy payout and a possible interim contract while it wound down, but two meetings came and went without an agreement, with figures ranging between $30,000 and $45,000 on the table.
By April 2025, his work phone had stopped working overnight, and the next morning he arrived to find his laptop gone from his desk, replaced by a handwritten note calling him to a meeting to discuss unspecified concerns. At that meeting, he was told the company wasn’t financially viable and might not even cover his last fortnight’s pay. A company representative told him plainly, “we can’t employ you from today, immediately.” He was also asked about work he had done for a rival operator, Air Kaikoura, even though nothing in his contract stopped him taking on other jobs. He told the men in the room the matter wasn’t finished, that they would hear from his lawyers, and then left.
RidgeAir later said he had effectively resigned by walking out. Higgins disagreed. Taking his phone and laptop away without warning, then giving him no real chance to respond to its concerns, showed RidgeAir hadn’t acted the way a fair, reasonable employer would have, the...
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