When the investigator is married to the accused, the bill tells the story
Three minutes after firing its head chef, a New Zealand café's general manager contacted his wife. She lost her job too. Total cost: over $95,000.
On February 12, 2026, the New Zealand Employment Relations Authority ruled that Tang & Son Limited had unjustifiably dismissed Aaron Wallace, head chef at Buoy Café, and his wife Phonesavanh "Ponsy" Wallace, the café's sous chef, from the Auckland waterfront café.
The trouble started when the company bought the café in June 2023 and appointed Sikuong Khammy as general manager and his wife, Sok Heang (Irrene) Toun, as store manager. Almost immediately, tensions developed between Mr Wallace and Ms Toun over who was responsible for what in the kitchen. Mr Wallace raised concerns repeatedly with Mr Khammy, describing what he saw as bullying — including Ms Toun refusing to speak to him for weeks at a time.
Things came to a head on June 14, 2024. Mr Wallace emailed Mr Khammy to say he would not be working that weekend, citing stress and anxiety over his dealings with Ms Toun and asking for an urgent meeting. Mr Khammy had just returned from a trip to Cambodia. Instead of scheduling that meeting, he spent the weekend speaking to seven staff members, including his wife, and on the evening of June 16, 2024, sent Mr Wallace a termination letter by email.
Three minutes later, he emailed Mrs Wallace asking her to come in for a meeting the following day. When she...
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