‘Unwilling to settle’: $15,000 added to luxury resort’s mounting debt

A luxury resort owed more than $140,000 in damages to former employees only coughed when a bailiff came knocking.

She now faces liquidation and an additional $15,000 bond as she tries to recover the payment.

When employee Graham Maheno resigned from Carrington Resort, on the Karikari Peninsula, in November 2021, he expected to receive his final wages and accrued annual leave.

Instead, he got nothing. Resort manager William Tan told him that deductions were taken from his salary to cover the cost of work clothes used on the job and for fees incurred by the late return of a cherry picker hired by Carrington for Maheno to was used for some painting work.

Carrington claimed he did not return it immediately after the work was completed, leading to additional charges.

After requesting his salary records and receiving no response, Maheno filed a personal complaint with the Labor Relations Authority in March 2022. Despite mediation meetings being scheduled, Carrington Resort took eight months to respond.

When the inquiry meeting was finally held in 2023, Tan accused Mahen of sabotage for not returning the cherry picker.

ERA accepted Maheno’s testimony that the cherry picker had returned on time due to the Covid lockdown and assumed that the resort could arrange his return.

Despite Moheno’s multiple requests for salary records and a compliance order issued by the ERA, Carrington still did not provide documentation. ERA found this to be a deliberate obstruction.

On August 15 last year, Carrington was ordered to pay an amount of $14,342 to Maheno for lost wages and fines.

He immediately obtained a seizure order and, despite Carrington mounting a challenge to the ERA’s order, the judgment sum was collected by a bailiff and released to Maheno in November.

Carrington maintained a stay of execution in respect of the judgment amount issued prior to the meeting. However, Maheno’s lawyer, Alex Kerjses, said this was not received until after the bailiff collected the amount.

Carrington submitted that, in order to ensure justice, the court should exercise its discretion and order Maheno to pay the judgment amount until the challenge is heard.

Maheno applied for an order that, based on Carrington’s current financial position and possible liquidation by the IRD, she must pay $15,000 into a court security account pending the outcome of the hearing.

He submitted that, if successful in the next round of proceedings, obtaining any further costs from Carrington would be difficult given his previous conduct.

A public notice placing Carrington Resort in possible liquidation was announced by the Inland Revenue in August 2023. To date, no legal progress appears to have been made by either party.

In a recent decision issued by Justice Merepaia King of the Employment Tribunal, numerous concerns were raised about the resort’s conduct to date and any future engagement.

“I accept that Carrington has shown himself to be unwilling to comply with the orders of authority. Only when faced with the order to seize the property did she comply and pay the amount ordered.

“The payment appears to indicate that Carrington has the ability to pay when required. However, no evidence was presented by Carrington on its ability to pay, or on the status of the liquidation proceedings.

“Having regard to the evidence before the court in this case, I consider that the ongoing liquidation proceedings are credible evidence from which it may reasonably be inferred that Carrington will not be able to pay any costs awarded against it notwithstanding the previous payment of the authority’s fees.”

Carrington Resort was ordered to pay $15,000 into an escrow account pending the outcome of the challenge hearing.

Kerjse told NZME that he and Maheno were hopeful the proceedings were coming to an end.

“Carrington’s arrogance and inability to take responsibility for their actions has been remarkable,” he said.

Tan did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Carrington Resort has previously been ordered to pay more than $149,000 to several former employees for wrongful termination and other employment matters:

Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei-based reporter for Open Justice covering the courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.