DISMISSED WITHOUT NOTICE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 1 August 1928, Page 9

DISMISSED WITHOUT NOTICE.

HAWERA FARM EMPLOYEE. WAGES CLAIM FAILS. The question of the dismissal of an employee without notice or payment of wages in lieu of notice was before Air. J. S. Barton, S.M., in the Hawera Court to-day, when William Barnett Cooper, a youth who arrived in the Dominion recently from England, made ; an unsuccess* ul claim against James Aitken, of Rata Street, Hawera, for £1 as a week’s wages. The parties to the dispute presented their respective versions to the court without the aid of counsel. Plaintiff stated that after being employed at *£l a week for about five months in general farm duties he had been dismissed oil Sunday, July 8, without notice or compensating wages. ‘•We had a row over feeding out,” plaintiff told the court. “I had fed hay to the cows when lie told me to pick it all up and feed it out again by the hedge. It happened, to he pouring rain and I was not feeling too well. The results were that Aitken was most dictatorial. We disagreed, and he ‘sacked’ me on the spot. He would not give me a week’s wages in place of notice.” Plaintiff further contended that the instruction to place the fodder along the hedge had not been given until a.ter he had put it in the open . paddock. Defendant: Did you feed the cows with carrots ? ■ Plaintiff: No; you “sacked” me. What did you call me? The answer was written down and handed to the Bench. “Being master of the place I am entitled to obedience from anyone I employ,” said defendant, in giving liis version of the dismissal. Defendant contended lie had instructed Cooper to •lace the feed along the hedge, as it was a rough night. When lie found that carrots had not been fed out in the usual manner, and that the hay had not- been placed along the hedge, lie repeated the earlier instruction. Cooper had then used an opprobrious term. “I didn’t strike him as I might have done, hut told him to clear off the place and paid him his wages,” said defendant. Tlie Magistrate: The question is whether there was cause for summary dismissal. Plaintiff : No Sir. Holding that the term used and candidly admitted by plaintiff supplied reason for summary dismissal, the Magistrate gave judgment for defendant. *