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An Auckland businessman and restaurateur Phillip Houston has been awarded nearly half a million dollars after being made redundant - from the travel company he owned.
The Employment Relations Authority has ordered Oldco PTI to pay Houston $494,688 remuneration for 18 months' lost income.
The hefty package includes his $300,000 salary, $45,000-a-year vehicle lease and personal travel to the value of $30,000 a year.
"It's a good result," said Houston, speaking at his iconic Parnell restaurant. "It is satisfactory, but I'm not in a position to comment further."
Oldco director John Waller said the company was reviewing the decision before deciding whether to appeal.
"It's not appropriate to speak on it - there is an enormous amount of background."
Since the 1980s Houston built up a large group of travel agencies - which became Pacific Travel Group.
According to the authority's determination, by 2003 PTG was in financial difficulty. The following year the group's bank, ANZ, appointed Price-waterhouseCoopers to review PTG's financial position, including changes in structure and senior management.
Houston refused to approve the restructuring and his family trust was placed into receivership.
He claimed he had been unjustifiably dismissed from his job as group CEO by Oldco (the successor company to PTG) in December 2004.
The Employment Relations Authority had to consider whether Houston was an employee and whether he resigned or was dismissed.
Authority member Marija Urlich found he had a written employment agreement and received a salary, therefore he was an employee.
She found that although Houston resigned his directorships of companies in the group, he had not resigned from his employment.
"The business had moved on without Mr Houston," said Urlich. "He was redundant. He is entitled to 18 months' remuneration."
Mark Ryan, a specialist employment lawyer with Haigh Lyon, said the award was not the highest he has heard of in NZ but was "up there in the scale of awards". "It's not objectionable, because he is being reimbursed for what he has lost."
