Award-winning Oamaru restaurant hired teens with no contract
The two employees took Cucina Oamaru Ltd to the Employment Relations Authority because they believed they had been illegally sacked.
They both received confusing texts from their employer, Yanina Tacchini, and were not offered any more shifts after they picked up second jobs as "cheese hosts" at Whitestone Cheese Diner & Deli.
But authority member Andrew Dallas said they had not been illegally sacked and, due to the casual nature of their employment, Cucina had no obligation to keep offering them shifts.
Cucina is an upmarket restaurant in Oamaru and the name of the company, which also operates another restaurant, Del Mar, and Tees Street Cafe.
Last year, Cucina was nominated for five awards at the Otago Hospitality Awards and won the outstanding restaurant award, the people's choice award and the award for supreme establishment.
It was awarded one hat in the Cuisine Good Food Awards in 2023, a ranking that denotes excellence and was given to fewer than 90 restaurants throughout the country.
The two teenage employees worked across all three establishments.
At the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) hearing it became clear neither girl had an employment contract.
Mrs Tacchini said she prepared employment agreements for them and provided these to managers but only discovered they were not in force when the personal grievance claims were filed.
Both girls were in high school when they started working for Cucina and they stopped working there in November 2023.
The first employee started working in 2021 after she responded to a Facebook advertisement for a last-minute kitchen hand shift.
During the shift, Mrs Tacchini asked the girl if she could work another shift at Tees Street Cafe the next day.
Mrs Tacchini said she made it clear to the girl employment with Cucina was on a "casual" basis.
The girl told the ERA Mrs Tacchini said a contract was not needed because of this, but the employer denied saying that.
In September 2023, the employee talked to Mrs Tacchini about starting a second job, to which Mrs Tacchini was open.
But in November 2023, when the employee advised her boss of her new role, she was told Cucina viewed working at Whitestone as a "conflict".
Before the employee could respond, she received two more texts stating: "so it's OK you can work there but we will remove you from Del Mar's roster" and "good luck with your future ventures".
The girl said she was "completely taken aback by [her] sudden dismissal" and it was very confusing.
Mrs Tacchini said Cucina managers conveyed to the teen later that night she had not been "dismissed" from her casual employment with Cucina, but she would not be offered further shifts if she chose to work at Whitestone.
A similar situation unfolded for the second employee when she too got a job as a "cheese host" at Whitestone.
She thought a second job there would be viable as Cucina had previously approved her working a second job at Pita Pit.
The girl said she "reached out" to Mrs Tacchini, who was initially supportive, but again things changed and she was advised Cucina saw working at Whitestone as a conflict.
Despite assurances the girl said she gave about maintaining the company's confidentiality, Mrs Tacchini sent her a text message stating: "That's OK. We will remove you from Cucina's roster. Good luck ... I wish you the best".
This was followed by another text saying "please just email me the resignation letter".
Mrs Tacchini accepted her choice of words when texting both girls was poor, but maintained they had not been "dismissed".
Authority member Mr Dallas found the girls were not unjustifiably dismissed, even though they both believed they were permanent employees.
"A genuine belief about employment status and the absence of an in-force employment agreement, which certainly would have assisted, does not, of itself, create a permanent employment relationship," Mr Dallas said.
He ordered Cucina to pay each girl $500 for the lack of an employment contract.
felicity.dear@odt.co.nz
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