Trustees of a church in Dunedin have been ordered to pay over $164,000 for exploiting two "vulnerable" migrant workers who had paid it for providing them with jobs.
The Employment Relations Authority ordered the trustees of Jesus Aroma Church - Victoria Jeon, Joseph Jeon and Misun Leem - to pay the two Korean men a combination of wages and holiday pay in arrears, as well as return the premiums they paid for their jobs.
One of the men, a pastor, had a job cleaning and helping warm up students at Dunedin Taekwondo Academy - which was operated by the trustees as a commercial entity.
The qualified Taekwondo instructor was also exploited.
As well as paying the men, the ERA also ordered the trustees to pay a penalty of over $40,000 for breaching minimum employment standards.
Head of compliance and investigations at the Labour Inspectorate Stu Lumsden said it was an elaborate scheme by the trustees, who targeted vulnerable migrant workers.
"The situation was unfortunate for these migrant workers whose visas were tied to the employer, who chose to breach New Zealand employment obligations," he said.
"Moreover, these workers lacked access to support services, and they had no knowledge of what they were signing up for as the agreements were in English, which was not their primary language.
"The trustees failed to provide wages and time record, which is in blatant violation of their employer’s responsibilities and is an attempt by the trustees to avoid paying the correct dues."
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