A bottle shop in Auckland has been ordered to pay $46,000 after exploiting a migrant worker.
Basra and Khella Limited, trading as Super Liquor Papatoetoe, was fined $18,000 by the Employment Relations Authority and ordered to pay more than $28,000 in arrears to the former worker.
The breaches included more than $25,000 in unpaid wages and more than $3000 in unpaid holidays and leave allowances.
Labour Inspectorate sector lead Loua Ward said the authority heard the worker was commuting six days a week from their home in the North Shore to the bottle shop in south Auckland, where shifts would regularly last for 12 hours and were often unpaid in full.
Ward said because Basra and Khella's sole director and employer Ravinda Basra had failed to keep accurate records, the authority relied on the worker's testimony, along with his public transport records, time stamped photos and purchase receipts from neighbouring businesses to prove his claims.
"This is not the first time the Inspectorate has brought alternative evidence like this to show an employer's exploitative actions, especially where an absence of accurate wage and time records has occurred," Ward said on Thursday.
"It's also another example of a bottle store taking non-compliant advantage of a migrant worker, which is simply illegal."
Ward said the Labour Inspectorate was working with bottle store franchisors to stamp out exploitation in the industry.
"Since these breaches occurred in 2017 and 2018, Super Liquor have taken significant steps to improve their compliance with employment minimum standards. We expect other franchises and brands to follow Super Liquor's lead, and do more to stop exploitation before it happens in their stores.
"Any type of bad branding to a franchise's name can negatively affect franchisees under the same brand which, like the vast majority of businesses in New Zealand, are above board and rightfully adhere to minimum employment standards with their workers."
