A liquor store boss and his associated companies have been ordered to pay $1.55 million for exploiting "vulnerable" migrant workers.
Sukhdev Singh will have to pay $415,800 within two weeks. The companies which ran the stores will also have to pay up $1.138m.
Singh received the longest ban from operating a company, a three-year term which starts next month.
MBIE said the employees did not receive minimum entitlements while working at the company’s liquor stores during September 2015 and November 2019.
MBIE also said there were 120 breaches in employment standards and Singh was involved in 49 breaches of minimum entitlement provisions by Samra Holdings and three group companies, and these companies have been similarly banned for two years.
According to Stuff, workers had their bank cards confiscated, were forced to work 70 hour weeks and some were made to sleep in a cubicle in one of the shops.
“This was deliberate and sustained exploitation of vulnerable migrants who were reliant on the employer for their jobs and visas. The people involved gained substantial commercial benefit unlawfully by exploiting the employees," MBIE's Stu Lumsden said.
Lumsden added that given the serious nature of the breaches and money to the five complainants, Labour Inspectors moved quickly and applied to the court for freezing orders to be placed on the employers’ assets.
This was the first time the Inspectorate has applied for freezing orders, Lumsden said.
“Our inspectors have also gone a step further to ensure this information is shared with our community stakeholders such as the Allied Retail Group who operate Liquor Centre. We understand that our stakeholders have taken further action against Samra Holdings," Lumsden said.
“The Inspectorate believes it is in the public interest to know when employers wittingly exploit their employees, so that workers, consumers and suppliers can make an informed decision when dealing with such businesses.”
Justice Kathryn Beck ordered paying the five migrant employees $255,000 in varying amounts, which is in addition to over $500,000 of arrears which has already been paid by the employer.
Singh had previously been warned by the Labour Inspectorate in 2104 over his kiwifruit business.
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