The Employment Relations Authority has imposed penalties totalling $90,000 on Dosanjh Horticulture Limited and $45,000 on its director for breaching minimum employment standards affecting four migrant workers at the Te Puke-based company.
The authority directed that $20,000 of the penalties be paid directly to the affected workers.
The company operated a wage banking arrangement where kiwifruit sector workers did not receive all lawful entitlements. Employees on contracts guaranteeing minimum hours were regularly made to work hours without payment to balance against earlier periods when they had been paid but had not worked. The company also did not keep accurate employment records or correctly calculate leave entitlements.
One worker was made to pay $4,500 as a premium for his employment with the company. The total wage arrears owed to the four workers reached $61,312, which the company agreed to pay before the hearing.
Employment Relations Authority member Sarah Kennedy-Martin said the breaches were serious and affected vulnerable migrant workers over an extended period. "Migrant workers are entitled to be treated with respect in the New Zealand workforce and they can be particularly vulnerable because of their migrant status," she said.
The authority found the employer controlled all aspects of the employment relationship, including setting up payroll and record-keeping systems that hid the underpayments, alongside making unlawful deductions and not meeting basic entitlements.
Workers complained to Zespri, which alerted the Labour Inspectorate to the breaches. Zespri subsequently cancelled the company's Compliance Assessment Verification, preventing it from operating in the kiwifruit industry.
Labour Inspectorate lead inspector Kevin Finnegan said "this company and those who owned it are well-known in the kiwifruit industry, which makes their flouting of minimum employment standards all the more unacceptable". He added that "while the arrears were repaid, employers cannot contract out of minimum employment standards. Record keeping, leave calculations and wage payments must all comply with the law".