KEY POINTS:
A barista who quit his job at a Wellington espresso bar and started working at a rival coffee cart nearby has been ordered to stop by the Court of Appeal.
Victor Hsieh resigned from his job at a Fuel Espresso outlet on Wellington's central city Holland Street on January 7.
He started working at Beangrinding, a mobile coffee trailer 70 metres away on Tory Street, on January 15.
Under the terms of Mr Hsieh's contract, when he stopped working with Fuel he was barred for three months from working for a competitor within a 100m radius of any Fuel outlet.
Owner of the Holland Street outlet, Sanjay Ponnapa, told the court he had heard from some of his customers that other regulars had followed Mr Hsieh to his new workplace.
Mr Ponnapa applied to the employment court for an injunction preventing Mr Hsieh from working at Beangrinding until three months from the day he quit Fuel.
The judge rejected the application, saying Mr Ponnapa had not given Mr Hsieh something extra in recognition of the trading restraint he was imposing.
At the appeal court, judges Grant Hammond, Mark O'Regan and Terence Arnold said the restraint was plainly reasonable.
"Agreements are made to be kept. Mr Hsieh was employed and trained, but then left in face of a clear contractual provision preventing him from doing what he has done."
The court issued an immediate order preventing Mr Hsieh from making coffee at Beangrinding until April 7.
- NZPA
