The owner of a now-liquidated Bay of Plenty kiwifruit contracting company must pay $40,000 in fines for exploiting migrant workers, including for making one worker pay more than $23,000 to secure his job.
Hariom Horticulture Limited owner Tarun Gautam neglected to keep wage, time, holiday and leave records, as well as failing to pay minimum wage rates, a Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) release said.
He required one of his five workers to pay a $23,324 premium to secure employment, with the payments made into bank accounts in India and New Zealand during December 2022 and early 2023.
The $40,000 fine was being enforced by the Employment Relations Authority (ERA).
ERA Member Claire English ordered $5000 portions of the penalty to be paid to each worker, with the worker who paid the premium to receive a further $5000.
The remaining $10,000 would go to the Crown.
In her decision, English said the affected employees' work visas required them to work for Hariom Horticulture Limited, rendering them dependent and vulnerable.
“This is a matter where the imbalance of power has allowed an experienced local businessman to employ multiple vulnerable immigrants without providing them with minimum employment entitlements.”
Gautum and his company still owed three of the workers $8203 in wages arrears.
The case was taken to the ERA after an eight-month investigation by the Labour Inspectorate, which had received complaints from two of the workers in early 2024. Two additional complaints were recieved during the investigation.
Labour Inspectorate lead inspector strategic alignment Kevin Finnegan said he hoped other companies would take note.
“The vast majority of orchard owners and labour hire operators working in the kiwifruit industry comply with employment standards and take good care of their workers. But there are some who believe it is acceptable to exploit vulnerable people to gain unfair competitive advantage.”
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Wider investigation still underway
Finnegan said the Labour Inspectorate had been doing wider work to clamp down on other serious non-compliant behaviour in the Bay of Plenty's kiwifruit sector.
The so-called Operation Indigo focused on "high-risk" employers in the sector.
Labour inspectors and compliance officers recently visited the work sites of 21 companies over four days.
The information gathered was being assessed to determine whether any enforcement action was needed.
“Through operations like this we are able to identify those who break the law and then take appropriate action,” Finnegan said.
“We want all players in this sector to operate on a level-playing field.”
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