“Although the woman may have experienced some discomfort from the interaction, such actions, in and of themselves, are unlikely to reach the threshold of serious misconduct, without some accompanying evidence such as inappropriate or threatening body language.
“It did not justify dismissal.”
DEL is owned by Stuart Biggs, who is no stranger to the ERA process and was once described by a lawyer as having a “long and potted history” of breaching orders of the ERA and the court.
In June 2026, Tillocksingh delivered a Freedom Furniture shipment from Freedom Moorhouse in Christchurch to a residential property.
A woman answered the door and Tillocksingh spoke with her while making the delivery.
Later that day, the Freedom Moorhouse store manager emailed DEL regarding a customer complaint.
The customer said his flatmate who accepted the delivery felt extremely uncomfortable during her interaction with Tillocksingh.
The woman alleged he had “lingered longer than necessary and made several inappropriate comments” including “do you work from home?”, “see you soon”, and “I’ll see you in and around town”.
She also said he had “interacted with the dog on the property without being invited to do so”.
The email added that the customer and his flatmate were “considering filing a police report to have the incident officially documented” and the exchange was captured on a doorbell camera.
‘Stupid f******’ idiot’ – manager
Tillocksingh told the authority he was called into branch manager Phil Sharp’s office the next day, who yelled that he was in the wrong for the way he spoke to the woman and shouldn’t be talking to customers in the first place.
He said he felt humiliated by Sharp’s comments because it seemed he had already made up his mind about what had happened, without asking for his side of the story.
He accepted he asked the woman, “Do you work from home?” but considered this small talk with no malice intended, and denied saying “See you soon” and “I’ll see you in and around town”.
He did not recall a dog being on the property, but, if there had been one, he may have interacted with it but did not consider he had lingered longer than necessary.
The next day, things escalated and Sharp said he could resign or DEL would sack him.
According to the decision Sharp called him a “stupid f****** idiot” for “messing up the Freedom contract”.
Tillocksingh said: “You’re going to have to fire me because I’m not resigning” and Sharp replied: “Well, you’re fired then.”
Sharp told the authority the complaint was “among the more serious complaints [he had] ever encountered”.
He said during the investigation Tillocksingh was dismissive about the complaint, saying he disagreed with the customer’s description of events, he was just being friendly, and the matter had been blown out of proportion.
Stuart Biggs, owner and director Drivers Employment. Photo / Supplied
Sharp said that, in accordance with company policy, Tillocksingh may be required to undergo a post-incident drug test, which he refused. Tillocksingh then left and never returned.
On June 17, Tillocksingh emailed company owner Stuart Biggs, asking for a copy of his termination letter.
He did not receive a response and Biggs told the authority he assumed Tillocksingh “was lining up for a personal grievance” and did not consider it necessary to respond to his email.
Fussey said the evidence Biggs and Sharp gave the authority was consistent with that predetermined approach.
“Under questioning, Biggs and Sharp also indicated that Tillocksingh’s actions were objectively unacceptable, assuming they had taken place as described even though the allegations had not been properly tested through an employment process.”
Fussey concluded that at no stage was DEL genuinely prepared to consider what Tillocksingh had to say, nor did it ask for the doorbell footage mentioned in the complaint.
DEL was ordered to pay Tillocksingh $15,000 compensation for humiliation, loss of dignity and injury to feelings and $17,448.75 in lost remuneration.
Biggs’ ERA history
In February 2023 it was determined that a former employee of another company Biggs owns, Star Moving, had been unjustifiably dismissed.
Star Moving was ordered to pay $58,739 in compensation and penalties. When that wasn’t paid, the Employment Court fined Star Moving a further $20,000 and warned prison time was the next step.
In 2022, the same company failed to pay a former employee his Covid-19 wage subsidy and was ordered to pay $25,000 compensation and $6131.12 in lost wages.
When that went unpaid, the Employment Court handed the company a $10,000 fine.
Brianna McIlraith is a Queenstown-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the lower South Island. She has been a journalist since 2018 and has had a strong interest in business and financial journalism.
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