If you received a text from your boss saying: “F…… useless. Make this your last week, f…… wasting my time”, what would you think? Would you think you were fired? Or would you brush it off as your boss having a bad day? Source: Stuff NZ
That text is exactly what forestry worker Arona Gray received from his employer Blair Chilton, of Chilton Logging early last year, according to an Employment Relations Authority (ERA) decision.
He took it as a dismissal, yet showed up to work the following day. However, just hours into his shift, he decided to “pull the plug”, telling his colleague: “I have had enough. I’m not coming tomorrow.”
Mr Gray was employed as a gang foreman by Chilton Logging in mid-January 2017. He had a number of responsibilities, including supervising the other workers and ensuring there was sufficient fuel to run the chainsaws.
One morning in February, fuel ran out on site. Mr Gray told the ERA he had delegated the fuel responsibility to gang member Jeremy Robinson, who was to contact Mr Chilton should fuel be needed. Mr Chilton was aware of the issue, and told Mr Robinson he would return within two hours with more fuel for the chainsaws.
It is understood Mr Robinson relayed the message to Mr Gray. Despite this, Mr Gray told his crew to head home because it was raining, they had nothing to do, and were sitting in a vehicle in wet clothes, and that was a health and safety issue.
As Mr Gray was leaving the site, he texted Mr Chilton to tell him that they had run out of fuel, and he was leaving the site with the gang. It was at this point that Chilton replied saying: “F…… useless. Make this your last week, f…… wasting my time”.
Mr Gray took this as a notice of his dismissal.
Mr Chilton told the ERA his intention was “absolutely not to dismiss” Mr Gray.
“He was simply exasperated by Mr Gray’s behaviour over fuel and wanted to give him a tune up,” the decision said.
“Gray was responsible for ensuring that there was adequate fuel on the site and … he was critical of Mr Gray’s decision to leave the site when he knew, or ought to have known, that Mr Chilton would be back at noon with more fuel.
“Moreover, Mr Chilton was absolutely clear that his point in sending the text was to be critical of Mr Gray’s behaviour in the sort of language that was habitually used in the forestry industry, but in no way was he expecting that his text would be taken as a dismissal.”
Despite the exchange, Mr Gray returned to work the following day to try and contact Mr Chilton. Mr Gray said he had been trying to contact him all night, but had not been successful. However, the ERA ruled there was no evidence to support this.
He worked on site for half a day, where he spent an hour and a half trying to put the track back on his machinery. He was unsuccessful, so decided to “pull the plug for the day”. He did not tell Mr Chilton, who was just down the road. Instead he handed his truck keys and other company belongings to Mr Robinson and said: “I have had enough. I’m not coming tomorrow.”
As a result, the ERA ruled Mr Gray ended his employment by way of abandonment.
“I think any reasonable person reading the text message that he received would have concluded that the sender was exasperated but no more than that.
“I do not accept that any reasonable construction of the text message, taken as a whole, constituted a ‘sending away’ in the way that phrase has been interpreted by the judges over many years,” the decision said.
“If Mr Gray were in any doubt about the meaning of the message, he should have persevered with his initial intention of engaging with Mr Chilton.”
Despite the ERA’s ruling, Chilton Logging was ordered to pay Gray holiday pay, plus interest.
