Pregnant British woman told to leave NZ after being unjustifiably dismissed from Palmco Garden Ltd, Kerikeri
A pregnant British immigrant had to leave New Zealand after she was wrongly dismissed from her job and lost her work visa status.
Rozalind Jones was made redundant from Palmco Garden ltd, Kerikeri (Facebook page link) in November 2014 and had to leave New Zealand because her work visa was made invalid. Her situation is a reminder of the perilous position migrants find themselves in when their visas are tied to specific employers, and those employers dump them without warning. They become persona non grata and are made to leave the country, regardless of how settled they are.
In a just-released decision, the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) determined Jones’ dismissal was unjustified, and ordered Palmco to pay her $20,655 in compensation.
Jones started working for Palmco in March 2014. Her duties included gardening, working in the centre’s cafe and shop, and participating in marketing activities. Her troubles began in September 2014 when she broke her ankle after falling into a hole at work.
In October, while recovering from the accident, she was visited at her home by Palmco’s director, *Kristin Lammerting. Jones considered Lammerting a friend and thought the visit was a social one to check on her injury, the ERA said. However, Lammerting told Jones she was being made redundant, and would have been told so on the day she broke her ankle if the accident had not occurred.
Jones alleged Lammerting told her nobody at Palmco liked working with her, and returned all her personal property. She was told that when she returned to work she would be given two weeks’ notice of redundancy. However just three days after Jones’ accident Palmco offered part time work to another woman. Palmco says Jones’ redundancy was justified because the business had more staff than it could afford.
Jones ran into problems after her dismissal because her work visa was only valid for her employment in her position at Palmco. Her attempts to find other work failed because of her visa restrictions. source
Palmco was ordered to pay Ms Jones $14,655 in lost pay and $6,000 in compensation for her unjustified dismissal. However, her visa will not be re-instated and she will have to remain in the UK.
Rozalind Jones’ situation is also a reminder that Immigration New Zealand has a reputation for refusing to renew work visas for women who become pregnant.
Although it’s been a few years (see links below) since a case has made the main stream media, the policy probably still goes on because of the “burden” it places on the NZ health system. This is despite the obvious abuse of human rights.
Our advice to Ms Jones is to take the money, and stay in the UK.
Who is Palmco Garden Limited? (updated)
According to New Zealand’s Companies Office, Palmco Garden Limited became incorporated in March 2014. The Companies Office web page for the business gives under Additional company information: “business classification is H451110 Cafe operation” and states the director is *Kristin Anna LAMMERTING.
The above information makes the discussion screen-shotted below, look rather odd.
From Palmco-Garden & Cafe’s Facebook page.
Pregnant women ordered out of New Zealand
Lincoln Tan has written an expose in today’s New Zealand Herald in which he revealed that women on temporary visas are being forced into leaving New Zealand if they fall pregnant.
Sometimes it’s hard to believe that New Zealand was a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) a United Nations Treaty based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
New Zealand is one of the few countries that didn’t incorporate the ICCPR into law, instead it supposedly gave effect to many of the rights contained within it by passing the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act in 1990.
A report by civil rights lawyers to the United Nations says New Zealand law allows significant human rights failings and breaches of international treaties,
The shadow report written by former Council for Civil Liberties chairman Tony Ellis and a team of lawyers was submitted to the United Nations…read on
Pregnant Lithuanian tourist, INZ still getting it all wrong
E2NZ.org 
Not surprised at the treatment, because Kiwis tend to be utilitarian about their relationships. But I felt relief for her – at least she can go home now with no fear of being forced to stay in New Zealand because the child’s father won’t “let” her leave. Unless they have found some way of keeping the baby before she has it because it’s part Kiwi (would if they could!)?
Absolutely disgraceful.
Unfortunately for New Zeeland the world is beginning to realize that is a serious and multiple violator of international law and accepted practices. That is why New Zealand finds it more and more difficult to trade with other nation more advances when it comes to human rights and abuses. It is also one of the most immigration racist countries.
Somewhat related:
As an immigrant, you get told that “oral communication carries no weight in law”
and
“recordings carry no weight in law”.
BUT
That is correct … only when those exist as audio.
When you write them down AND have on file, ready to present to a judge of some sort,
YOU CAN GET AUDIO ADMITTED AS EVIDENCE.
I successfully won a tribunal case against a slippery DJ who has yet to pay me back. When the statute of limitations runs out … I’ll put what happened on E2NZ.
He’s going to be one angry Kiwi … but he brought it on himself by not paying back his debts.
As to “defamation”, I will also be supplying scanned copies of the judgement (my name and other people he cheated, redacted) … but his prominently displayed.
I think it will be revealing, what do you think, E2NZ?
“Full control”, what a brilliant idea. The “contribute” page is today just a hodgepodge of scattered comments and nobody can be bothered to read it. It needs to be cleaned up. Then, let us publish our stories on our own sites, and on Contribute we put a five line comment with a link. Make sure the new links always appear at the top, not the bottom, so it pushes the old ones down. This way E2NZ will be a front-page and portal and this is better than starting competitors. I have lots of juicy interesting stories I can share.
Absolutely GREAT. Really looking forward to it. I don’t want you to see us others as “competitors” but part of a network. Think like of the Roman Facia, a bundle of sticks tied together for strength, with an axe. It symbolised the strength of togetherness, one rod could easily be broken, but bundled together it is almost impossible. The old symbol is still used by some police in Europe today. Also keep in mind the advantages of free speech. New Zealand has some of the most restrictive laws against free speech. Anyone with money can silence you with legal intimidation, if you are right or wrong is unimportant, you need a few hundred thousand to prove it. Some of us live overseas in jurisdictions that protect free speech, politicians, civil servants, or business kingpins can not direct the police to make dawn raids on our homes (Hager, Siemer, etc), or just call up and threaten the ISP to shut you down, or manipulate the courts to use 100 year old laws to obtain just their desired outcome. We can publish what you can not of the New Zealand dirty underbelly. I still think common sense and human respect should prevail.
Rolf, send in the links. We’ll add them to the sites list on the right of this page and will link to them on Twitter.
If she had filed a grievance with the ERA [even if she is right, wins] she’ll be labelled a “troublemaker, whistle blower” and her chances of working are slim. The ERA is window dressing, to be looked at/seen but not used. If you have had a case heard by them, employers will not touch you after.
Seems funny, odd, and to coincidental, that she was to be laid off the SAME DAY she got injured? What are the chances of that?
You do not have any right on work visa, one reason why these people are exploited and they never open their mouth.
Sad sad only expect from un civilised country.
Very true but these guys are doing something about it:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11482639&ref=rss
Typical scumbag racist Kiwi’s. What a low blow to Mrs Jones, kicking her when she’s down, and swooping in to take advantage of her predicament and sacking her. (Blatantly because they didn’t like her.)
Palmco Garden’s Facebook page trying to make out the cafe isn’t connected in anyway to the actual shop and garden…whatever. Pull the other one. I bet their xenophobia is widespread throughout the whole company. (Like most Kiwi companies.) The fact is their Facebook represents the entire company, muppets.
Immigration NZ should have been sued as well. Mrs Jones successfully sued for wrongful dismissal (unlawful I’d say), so Immigration NZ should have re-instated her visa and given her an extension. Not that she’d want to stay after such awful treatment.
But as you say admin, Mrs Jones is better off taking the money and going back home, where she will be treated with dignity and like a human being (which is what shes done I gather.)
This reminds us all what cowardly, insidious, nasty, backstabbing little trolls most kiwis are. And doing that to a pregnant woman is the lowest of the low.
I wish Mrs jones all the best.
The lamentable thing is that it is one set of rules for the local inbreds and another set of rules for outsiders.
I guess she was deemed obsolete and not ‘economically viable’ once she broke her ankle which was their fault. Wouldn’t be surprised if she was pushed into the hole, just to make way for a Kiwi employee. They’ve done her a massive favour anyway, despite her being separated from the father. Who’d want to bring a child up in this rip off hell hole?
Outsiders are probably easier targets for it, but kiwis do it to each other as well. My brother worked at Mitre 10 a few years ago. He started at checkout, then when he got an IT qualification from hard study, he was upgraded to an IT position. Some time later, some scumbag in management accidentally sent an email that was supposed to only go to other management scum, but she mistakenly included his email and didn’t notice. In addition to abuse, where they labelled him a moron among other things, this mail detailed an evil plan. They realized they couldn’t just throw him out, as they feared he could take legal action, so their plan was to demote him slowly, back down to check then, in their words, ‘out the door’.
At this time in his life, he was a bit of a baby. I mean, he didn’t like confrontation and would always avoid it. He stayed a little longer and then just left of his own accord. He felt horrible that everyone around him hated him so he just left. He had a baby then but they gave no shits.
Now if the above didn’t make you sick, then how about this? Because he was in control as the IT guy, he ad access to the system for dealing with any problems from home. They actually tried to accuse him of some kind of computer crime after he’d left. Even called him in for a meeting. Nothing happened as he did not commit any such crime. We have no idea why they even bothered. I still get mad when I think about it and how he wouldn’t take any action against them. I tried to make him but he wouldn’t listen.
So yeah, treating others like garbage. I guess it’s pretty common among kiwis as much any others. I don’t even identify myself as a kiwi. I’ll take ‘New Zealander’, as I was born and live here but the term ‘kiwi’ just pisses me off lol.
I have a similar experience, whole company was told of my being laid off, all the while, denying it, even to authorities. Lying is second nature so expect a lot, back stabbing, plotting…They also accuse others of what they’d most likely be guilty of. So, if you’ve been accused of stealing, the one accusing is probably dishonest. Much like in the above story, being accused of stealing emails when that is probably something that they’d be guilty of. I guess that there is so little going on in their lives that this make things “interesting”.
Lying is so ingrained in the culture that I don’t think they even think there is anything wrong or bad about it.
That is how things are, lie your ass off, lie to your friends, lie to your family, lie to your boss/employer, lie to your fellow work mates, lie to your employees… Some of the least trustworthy people I have ever seen. Don’t trust them any further than you can throw them [which is probably not very far].
This (possibly unwittingly) also highlights another problem in this backwater hellhole, the fact that she was quite seriously injured at her workplace and she has had no form of compensation other than the paltry amount she may have received from the joke that is ACC. I’m not into rampant litigation like in other parts of the world but (without knowing the full circumstances) she might have been better looked after in the civilised world post accident.
Personally, if the immigration department kicked me out and told me never to return they’d be doing me a favour! Don’t fight it, girl!!
Exactly right CK, I would have given them the fingers and never returned.
I’d be in that queue haha.