City pub owner's behaviour `appalling'

Tauranga publican Mike Colosimo treated staff like expendable objects and allowed them to be used "as the meat in the sandwich" in a dispute between him and Phil Kingsley Jones.
The Employment Relations Authority has admonished the businessman for his "appalling" treatment of former Kingsley Jones pub employees last November - saying he "committed a gross breach of their trust and confidence".
Mr Colosimo, has been ordered to pay former kitchen hand Gordon Parker 7 per cent interest on $306.25 in unpaid wages and holiday pay. The court also ordered him to pay Parker $6000 for humiliation and distress and $1000 for failing to record working hours and wages and disclose these records when requested. He must also pay the authority $3000 for the latter.
Mr Colosimo told the Bay of Plenty Times he would "go through the proper court system now".
His lawyer Terry Hibbitt confirmed they were looking at grounds for appeal to the Employment Court.
Last November, the Bay of Plenty Times reported that Mr Parker was one of over a dozen staff affected when Phil Kingsley Jones split from the bar on The Strand after a "difference of opinion" with business partners Mr Colosimo and John Harvey.
The bar is now operating as the Cornerstone Pub.
Five of 15 staff members said at the time they were not paid for two weeks.
The authority said in its judgment that on November 24, when staff including Mr Parker arrived at the bar for a meeting with Mr Colosimo, they were evicted by police.
The authority ruled Mr Colosimo had behaved in an "appalling" manner, saying "it is hard to think of a more disrespectful way of terminating the employment relationship".
When Mr Kingsley Jones left, Mr Colosimo claimed they agreed staff would be made redundant and told to re-apply for their jobs. The authority ruled this conversation never took place and Mr Colosimo kept the bar open after November 14, bringing in staff from his other bars.
"It was the practice of Mr Colosimo to move people from one enterprise to another, although this was not within the ambit of the contract which I saw and which I was told was the contract supplied to staff in all of the enterprises named."
It found Mr Colosimo did not keep staff informed and acted with "a total lack of consideration for their feelings".
When Mr Parker made wage claims, Mr Colosimo claimed he was not his legal employer.
The authority ruled Mr Colosimo's "vague, one size fits all" contract that lumped together "all establishments that are owned or part-owned by Michael Colosimo" did not meet statutory requirements.
It also found Mr Colosimo did not keep time and wage records, or a list of employees' addresses, as legally required.
On at least two occasions, staff requested time and wage records and Mr Colosimo said Mr Kingsley Jones had taken them with him. This was found to be "patently untrue".