Farm thefts, a cottage eviction and a single text message, but the dismissal claim still failed
A dairy farm worker sacked by text after farm thefts lost her unjustified dismissal claim, Authority member Helen van Druten ruled on 6 May 2026.
Emelza Winters had worked at RSK Farming Limited's Waikato dairy farm as Farm Manager, resigning in 2023 after an injury. In mid-2024 she contacted Rupinder Singh-Heer, who part-owns and works on the farm, about coming back, and returned as a Farm Assistant, starting on a couple of hours a day and building up as her injury allowed.
Things unravelled in late November 2024. After another employee's vehicle was stolen, Singh-Heer phoned Winters and accused her of taking it, also raising the theft of a quad bike. Days later, on 29 November, she received a text telling her to clear her belongings out of the cottage she lived in on the property. According to that message, she was also "not fit nor healthy to fulfil the requirements of me farm". Singh-Heer later described it as a "go away" text, and accepts he ended her employment by text and without any meeting.
Winters argued she was a permanent employee who had been unjustifiably dismissed, pointing to her consistent work pattern and a mutual expectation of ongoing work. She also sought penalties over RSK's failure to give her a written employment agreement or proper wage and time records, in breach of sections 65 and 130 of the Employment Relations Act 2000.
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