Cafe at centre of vandalised couch row hit with new battle - to the tune of $23K

A cafe owner who recently came under fire for posting images of a young child scratching her name into a leather couch at the eatery is now facing another battle.

Hind Quarters Cafe & Bar in Waverley, South Taranaki, has been taken to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) by former employee Auto Huntly-Byrne after he was fired through text message by owner Kylie James.

Now, the cafe has been ordered to stump up more than $23,000 to Huntly-Byrne for the handling of his dismissal.

The authority heard James had issues with Huntly-Byrne just three weeks into his employment at the cafe, and it came to a head when he closed one night and was accused of leaving the store a mess.

Huntly-Byrne was said to have not set the alarm, left the sandwich press on, milk on the counter, scum in the sinks and cardboard boxes in front of a freezer vent.

In a message, James told him not to return to work, adding: “sorry mate you blew it”.

In the ERA decision releasd today, authority member Alyn Higgins said a Messenger chat was not an appropriate forum to conduct a disciplinary process and found Huntly-Byrne was unjustifiably dismissed.

The decision comes a week after the cafe came under fire for posting to social media a photo of a young girl and her family after the child used her fingernails to etch words into a $4500 couch at the cafe.

The young girl scratched her name into a $4500 leather Rembrandt couch at Taranaki's Hind Quarters Cafe & Bar in Waverley.

James publicly shared details of the incident, hoping to identify two adults who were caring for the children, arguing that they should have alerted staff to the damage before leaving.

Instead, she was left dealing with threats to her business.

Issues arose early into the employment

According to the ERA decision, Huntly-Byrne was referred to work at the cafe through a friend in June 2024.

James asked him about his general fitness to work and looked him up on Facebook, but accepted that she never conducted any CV or reference checks.

He began his employment in the kitchen, with his duties including cooking and washing dishes.

But three weeks later, James had become concerned that Huntly-Byrne was allegedly not working some of his rostered shifts and wearing a dirty uniform.

Another employee shared her concerns with James, claiming some of Huntly-Byrne’s work practices were putting the cafe at risk, including that customers overheard him yelling.

James then held a meeting to address Huntly-Byrne’s alleged lateness, cleanliness, and an argument between him and another staff member regarding cleaning.

She then wrote the matters discussed at the meeting in a letter that also advised Huntly-Byrne of a final warning relating to his conduct.

According to the decision, which he received but never read.

The message that ended it all

The final straw was in November 2024, when another staff member had to leave work early and Huntly-Byrne was left to close the cafe alone.

Sometime after the cafe closed, James went in to cash up and noticed several tasks had not been completed.

She took photos and posted them in the group Messenger chat for Hind Quarters staff.

In the same chat thread, James asked who was responsible for closing the kitchen that day, to which Huntly-Byrne said he was, along with the colleague who left early.

James wrote in the chat that the cafe could have burnt down and Huntly-Byrne could not do his job.

She said she needed to be able to trust the team and “this is my business and not a bloody shitty arse game”.

Huntly-Byrne tried to explain in the chat that those responsibilities were shared between staff and were not all his fault.

But the next day, when he texted James to see if he was rostered on, she said he was not.

When he asked when she wanted him to work next, she said “I don’t. Sorry mate you blew it yesterday”.

James told the authority she drafted a “serious misconduct dismissal letter”, which covered his lateness, customer service expectations, dress and appearance, rules covering unsatisfactory conduct and serious misconduct, and termination without notice.

She said she delivered it to his home but Huntly-Byrne said he never received it.

In the decision, Higgins said James did carry out some form of investigation before raising the issues with Huntley-Byrne, in that she visited the cafe, took photographs and put these to the staff in question.

“I also accept that Mr Huntley-Byrne knew the standards of performance required to close the cafe as he had done so previously.”

But Higgins ultimately ruled Huntley-Byrne was unjustifiably dismissed, as there was no disciplinary meeting and no proper opportunity for Huntley-Byrne to state his case.

“Further, Dallison had shown that it could have followed a better process because it did so for the October 2024 meeting.”

As well as $15,000 for the unjustified dismissal, Dallison was ordered to pay Huntly-Byrne $8299.20 in compensation for lost wages lost and $500 to the Crown for failing to provide all wage and time records.

James has been approached for comment.

Brianna McIlraith is a Queenstown-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the lower South Island. She has been a journalist since 2018 and has had a strong interest in business and financial journalism.