{"id":513527,"date":"2026-07-07T04:49:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T04:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/513527\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T04:49:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T04:49:09","slug":"winton-land-will-no-longer-appeal-100k-employment-relations-authority-ruling-in-wake-of-ceo-chris-meehans-resignation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/513527\/","title":{"rendered":"Winton Land will no longer appeal $100k Employment Relations Authority ruling in wake of CEO Chris Meehan\u2019s resignation"},"content":{"rendered":"

It followed a sudden announcement<\/a> last month that Meehan was taking leave from his chief executive role for health reasons.<\/p>\n

He remains a director.<\/p>\n

\"AA courtyard at one of the first 32 homes at Northbrook Wanaka by Winton Land. Photo \/ Vaughan Brookfield<\/p>\n

In March last year, the Employment Relations Authority upheld a complaint against Meehan. At the time, Winton said it planned to appeal the ruling.<\/p>\n

Meehan\u2019s assistant, Leah McCann, complained about the way Meehan expressed his dissatisfaction over his business class seat on a long-haul flight.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the worst f***ing flight I have ever f***ing taken, how the f*** did I end up in seat 29 between the bar and the toilet?\u201d he told her over the phone.<\/p>\n

\"ChrisChris Meehan outside the display suite for Winton Land’s planned Northbrook Arrowtown. Photo \/ Jason Oxenham<\/p>\n

The authority ordered Winton Capital to pay McCann $100,846, including $74,846 for lost wages, compensation of $25,000 and a penalty of $1000.<\/p>\n

It also ordered Winton Capital to pay a $4000 penalty to the Crown.<\/p>\n

The authority said the company had no regard for New Zealand employment law \u201cwhen it chose to act in the ways it did towards McCann\u201d.<\/p>\n

It failed to maintain a productive employment relationship with McCann, who was Meehan\u2019s executive assistant for 10 months in 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe first stage of Winton Land’s Northbrook Wanaka retirement village. Photo \/ Winton Land<\/p>\n

McCann claimed her job was jeopardised after Meehan swore at her and threatened her employment, and that the company failed to address the distress and harm she experienced as a result.<\/p>\n

McCann complained she was told Meehan\u2019s conduct would likely continue, that the relationship was broken and that she was pressured to resign while on sick leave.<\/p>\n

Winton Capital denied McCann\u2019s claims, alleging there were performance issues with her work.<\/p>\n

After the authority\u2019s findings were released, the company told NZME it strongly disagreed with the outcome and would appeal the ruling.<\/p>\n

When McCann said she didn\u2019t know about the flight seating, she recalled Meehan told her: \u201cThis is your f***ing job, what the f*** have you been doing for the past three f***ing weeks?\u201d<\/p>\n

McCann said she would talk to the travel agent and alleged Meehan responded with another barrage of expletives, telling her not to use the agent ever again and, if she did, he would \u201cf***ing sack\u201d her.<\/p>\n

\"OneOne of the first streets at the new Northbrook Wanaka retirement village by Winton Land. Photo \/ Vaughan Brookfield<\/p>\n

Meehan said in his witness statement that he generally agreed with the \u201cgist\u201d of McCann\u2019s recollection and admitted he was angry and would have sworn.<\/p>\n

But he denied swearing \u201cat\u201d her or that he \u201cabused\u201d her.<\/p>\n

However, at the authority\u2019s investigation meeting, Meehan clarified that it was unlikely he swore in front of his driver, who was an older person.<\/p>\n

He explained he was frustrated because McCann had defied an earlier order not to use the travel agent and didn\u2019t take ownership of the \u201cdebacle\u201d.<\/p>\n

But McCann said she never received that instruction, and Meehan couldn\u2019t remember when he made it. At the investigation meeting, he accepted he hadn\u2019t directed her to use another travel agent, the Herald reported last year.<\/p>\n

The determination said Meehan acknowledged getting annoyed by those he believed were not \u201cdoing their job\u201d or meeting his \u201chigh standards\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe says that he gets \u2018frustrated\u2019, \u2018stormy\u2019 and \u2018colourful\u2019 and, during the investigation meeting, he accepted that he sometimes swears when he needs to make his point,\u201d the authority said. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe stressed that he does not swear \u2018at\u2019 people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Billy's,Billy’s, the newest hospitality venue at Ayrburn outside Arrowtown, opened a year ago. Photo \/ Jason Dorday<\/p>\n

Meehan gave evidence that he oversees a culture of safety and excellence, and when people do not do the job that they have been entrusted to do, or they do something despite being told not to do it, he gets grumpy.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe says the Winton group\u2019s culture is to \u2018instruct people on what to do once, and then expect them to do it, and to hold them to account if they do not\u2019,\u201d the authority said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe accepts that the Winton work environment is not one that suits everyone. <\/p>\n

\u201cSome find the high standards too exacting of them, and go on to do other things, but the majority are loyal and thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n

On June 24, Winton was trading at $1.52 but on Friday it sunk to $1.40 and is now around $1.38. <\/p>\n

Anne Gibson<\/a> has been the Herald\u2019s property editor for 26 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.<\/p>\n

Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our Business newsletter<\/a> \u2013 your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It followed a sudden announcement last month that Meehan was taking leave from his chief executive role for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513528,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[23562,114305,6375,1124,138,3500,3276,1656,170,1122,78,1426,19720,2250,255282,130,111,139,7805,69,1118,814,1123,46400,3044,294,29946,131,1361,23534,6277,1533,139174],"class_list":["post-513527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-23562","tag-100k","tag-appeal","tag-authority","tag-business","tag-ceo","tag-chris","tag-company","tag-development","tag-employment","tag-in","tag-investment","tag-land","tag-longer","tag-meehans","tag-more","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-no","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-property","tag-relations","tag-requires","tag-resignation","tag-retirement","tag-ruling","tag-than","tag-that","tag-village","tag-wake","tag-will","tag-winton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}