Two former restaurateurs have been ordered to pay $420,000 after a migrant worker exploitation investigation revealed they had breached “numerous” minimum employment standards
In a statement, the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) said Ajay Sharma and Kavita Sharma exploited seven migrants of Indian descent between December 2017 and December 2018.
The pair were the owners of Prisha’s Royal Cambridge Indian Restaurant in Cambridge and Roquette Restaurant and Bar in Whakatāne.
MBIE’s head of compliance and enforcement, labour inspectorate, Simon Humphries, said the investigation found workers “suffered considerable distress” while employed by Ajay and Kavita Sharma.
“At the heart of this offending are vulnerable workers who have simply been exploited and denied basic minimum employment standards."
Employment court judge JC Holden said the exploitation left some of the workers “feeling caged” or “like a slave”.
“Those employees were isolated from family; several were young, and most were visa-dependant. The inherent inequality of power in the employment relationship helped make the breaches possible,” she said.
Humphries described the exploitation as "deliberate and systemic offending".
The two employees have now been ordered to pay more than $330,000 in penalties, compensation and arrears.
Judge Holden also ordered the pair to pay $78,429 — making the total cost of their offending $420,000.
"The penalties awarded demonstrates the serious nature of this offending and sends a very clear message to businesses who exploit vulnerable workers for their own financial gain," Humphries said.
"The consequences of such actions could be severe, so it’s not worth the risk."
The labour inspectorate also obtained a freezing order against the defendants "to pay the arrears and compensation costs in full to the employees".
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