Just two weeks after being ordered to forfeit two of its $1 million helicopters to the Crown for illegal crayfish gathering, The Helicopter Line has found itself in turbulence again.
The Queenstown company has now been rapped by the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) over its unjustified dismissal of former cafe employee Jonathan Lovatt following the closure of its Delta Tasman Cafe near Mount Cook in 2024.
In an ERA decision, authority member Antoinette Baker said The Helicopter Line (THL) “fell well short” of treating Lovatt fairly, and found the company effectively blamed him for the cafe’s closure after he allegedly refused to train new staff and take on other duties.
“It ended his employment suddenly for reasons of fault without any evidence of a process addressing those things beforehand.”
Lovatt worked as a cafe assistant for THL for eight months in 2024.
His employment was ended in a December 2, 2024, letter from THL director Mark Quickfall.
The letter stated that during Quickfall’s previous visit to Mount Cook, he and Lovatt had discussed changing the cafe business model to ensure it could continue operating.
They agreed to wind back the menu and serve coffee, cabinet food and other self-serve items. The model required the support of all managers and staff.
But Quickfall wrote that the acting cafe manager had since told him Lovatt was unwilling to help order food, support the cafe while replacement staff were recruited after two employees left, or train new staff.
“Unfortunately, the situation at the cafe is out of our control and despite extensive advertising it will take time to find and induct staff. We will close the cafe from 5 December,” the letter read.
“As per your contract we will pay you two weeks’ notice from today. We will also require you to vacate the staff accommodation. We are unable to meet your requirements and are now forced to close the cafe.”
The cafe has since reopened.
Tasman Delta Cafe is in a remote location near Mount Cook. Screenshot / Google Maps
Quickfall told the authority that Lovatt had been made redundant and said THL had consulted with him through a series of meetings and discussions before the decision was made.
However, Baker rejected THL’s claim that Lovatt’s dismissal was a genuine redundancy.
She said Quickfall had communicated in the letter that the cafe had to close because Lovatt would not perform certain tasks while the business recruited more staff or help train the new employees.
Quickfall also confirmed in evidence that Lovatt’s employment was terminated because he had refused to operate the cafe under the proposed self-service cabinet model and instead wanted to continue serving a menu with food cooked to order.
“Again, this supports that THL was effectively blaming Mr Lovatt for the closure of the cafe rather than perhaps addressing in a more transparent way its concerns that he was not allegedly prepared to change and behaved in a manner now claimed to be problematic about this,” Baker said.
There was no evidence there had ever been a “sensible discussion” about those issues between the parties or that a fair process had been followed, she said.
The authority heard Lovatt had told his then acting manager three days before receiving the termination letter that he was “burnt out” and needed to take a sick day, which Baker said was a catalyst for his dismissal.
Baker found that, because the dismissal was not a genuine redundancy, THL was not justified in ending Lovatt’s employment. The company was ordered to pay him $17,740, comprising $16,000 compensation and $1740 in lost wages.
In a written statement, a spokesperson for THL said it had operated at Aoraki Mount Cook for 40 years and valued the people who had worked with the company.
“We take our obligations as an employer seriously and are carefully considering the determination and our options. As this involves employment and privacy matters, we are unable to comment further.”
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The decision comes just two weeks after THL was fined $12,000 and ordered to forfeit two Airbus AS350 helicopters after it was sentenced in the Queenstown District Court for its part in an illegal crayfish gathering operation in 2022.
THL provided flights as part of its collaborative heli-crayfish experience with The Rees Hotel.
A crayfish diver would fly with tourists to a remote South Island location and gather crayfish, which were then given to The Rees Hotel for its dining service.
Under the Fisheries Act 1996, any seafood used as part of a commercial business must be sourced under a valid commercial permit, which neither party had.