Auckland (The NZ Today)
A New Zealand aged-care provider has been ordered to pay more than $51,000 in wage arrears to 10 registered nurses who worked more than 1,500 hours without pay while being described as “volunteers” as they waited for visas allowing them to legally work in the country.
The Employment Relations Authority decision, dated 5 October 2026, concerns Experion Care NZ Limited and its director and shareholder Aviral Garg, following proceedings brought by a Labour Inspector from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).
According to the determination, Experion operates aged-care facilities at six locations across New Zealand, with about 160 residents and 150 staff.
The Authority records that between October 2023 and September 2025, Experion offered 10 people employment as registered nurses while at the same time engaging them as “volunteer” registered nurses as they waited for the company’s assistance to apply for and obtain visas permitting them to work legally in New Zealand.
The nurses named in the determination are Suman Lata, Anisha Ushakumari, Sharmaine Magbanua, Jesteena George, Arlin Monisha, Elizabeth Michael, Feba Ponnachan, Lincy Lawrence, Teena George and Lanie Juntilla. Their individual unpaid “volunteer” periods ranged from several days to almost three months.
Collectively, the 10 workers performed more than 1,500 hours of unpaid work across 193 shifts on ordinary days, the Authority records.
Four of the employees also worked another 47 unpaid hours across six public-holiday shifts.
Six of the nurses have since finished working for Experion, but because their earlier “volunteer” period had not been paid, their final holiday-pay calculations were also incorrect.
The case came to the attention of the Labour Inspectorate after one of the affected employees made a complaint.
Following an investigation, the Labour Inspector determined that despite being described as volunteers, the workers were in fact employees of Experion during those periods and were therefore entitled to minimum employment protections and payment.
The determination records that Experion later accepted that an employment relationship existed and that the nurses should have been paid from their first shift as “volunteers.”
The company accepted breaches of the Minimum Wage Act 1983, Wages Protection Act 1983 and Holidays Act 2003.
The parties attended mediation and reached agreement on most of the Labour Inspector’s claims before the matter was placed before the Authority.
Importantly, the consent determination states that the parties agreed this was not a case of intentional migrant exploitation. However, they also agreed that the breaches affected vulnerable migrants and that penalties against Experion were appropriate.
The amount of those penalties has not yet been determined and remains an issue for the Authority to decide separately.
The Inspector had identified 29 breaches, but the parties agreed they could be grouped to a starting point of no more than 18 breaches for the purposes of determining penalties.
As part of the consent orders, Experion must pay the 10 affected employees a combined $51,925.45 gross in arrears, in addition to interest.
The money is required to be paid within two weeks after the Labour Inspector provides Experion with a final breakdown showing how much is owed to each employee and the applicable interest calculation.
Interest on wage and time-and-a-half arrears is to be calculated from the end of each employee’s unpaid “volunteer” period to 21 September 2026. For final holiday pay and alternative-day arrears, interest will run from the end of each worker’s employment to the same date.
Experion must also amend the official employment start dates of affected nurses who are still working for the company so their employment begins from the date they first started their so-called volunteer period.
The determination also deals with the claim against director Aviral Garg.
Under the agreed orders, the Labour Inspector will withdraw the claim against Garg once all wage arrears have been paid to the affected employees in full.
If any former employee cannot initially be contacted, the Labour Inspectorate will assist in trying to locate them. If an employee still cannot be found within two months after final calculations are provided, Experion must pay that person’s gross arrears to the Inspectorate, which will then be responsible for locating the employee and distributing the money after deductions such as PAYE.
Experion has also agreed to pay $2,500 towards the Labour Inspector’s legal costs within seven days of receiving an invoice from MBIE.
The company told the Authority it intends to provide a written report to the aged-care sector explaining what happened with its use of “volunteers” and the consequences, with the aim of helping other providers learn from the case.
The determination was issued by Employment Relations Authority member Sarah Kennedy-Martin on 5 October 2026. The question of how much Experion will ultimately face in penalties remains to be decided.
