A Christchurch motel owner who made migrant workers work up to 98 hours a week while paying them for just 40 has been sentenced for exploitation.
Jian Li — who was the owner-operator of Fei Huang Tenga Da Ltd, trading as 315 Motel Riccarton — was sentenced to seven and a half months' home detention in the Christchurch District Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to seven migrant exploitation charges. A request by his lawyer for community detention was declined because of the seriousness of the offending.
Li's company had been sentenced in May while he was out of the country and ordered to pay $115,077.26 in reparations.
An Immigration NZ investigation found four migrant workers employed as managers were required to live on-site and effectively run the motel operation, including staffing reception for 14 hours every day, between February 2017 and December 2021.
Despite working between 84 and 98 hours a week, they were generally paid for only 40 hours. Minimum wage and Holiday Act entitlements, including annual holidays and time-and-a-half for working on public holidays, were also denied, the investigation found.
Three of the workers remain in New Zealand on valid work visas while the fourth has left the country.
Immigration NZ national investigations manager Jason Perry said the treatment of the workers was "not acceptable".
"They were essentially running the motel from morning until night, seven days a week, while being paid for only a fraction of the hours they worked."
Migrant workers had the same rights as any other New Zealand employee, he said.
"The majority of employers do the right thing, but when someone chooses to underpay workers and ignore basic employment obligations, it harms the workers involved and puts honest businesses at a disadvantage.
"Employers shouldn't be able to gain a financial advantage by cutting corners and exploiting their staff."
Reparations, while an important outcome, did not undo the impact the workers had experienced, Perry added.
"It's positive that these workers have received compensation for some of what they were denied, but that doesn't change the fact they spent years working excessive hours without receiving their full pay and entitlements."
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