Auckland (The NZ Today)
A Christchurch motel owner has been sentenced after four migrant workers were made to work as many as 98 hours a week while generally being paid for only 40.
Jian Li, the owner-operator of Fei Huang Tenga Da Ltd, which traded as 315 Motel Riccarton, was sentenced in the Christchurch District Court on Wednesday to seven-and-a-half months’ home detention after admitting seven migrant exploitation charges.
His lawyer had sought community detention, but the court rejected that request because of the seriousness of the offending.
Li’s company had already been sentenced in May and ordered to pay $115,077.26 in reparations while he was overseas.
An Immigration New Zealand investigation found the four workers were employed as motel managers between February 2017 and December 2021, required to live on site and effectively run the business.
Their duties included staffing reception for around 14 hours a day, seven days a week.
INZ said the workers were putting in between 84 and 98 hours each week, yet were usually paid for just 40 hours.
Investigators also found they were denied minimum-wage and Holidays Act entitlements, including annual leave and time-and-a-half for working on public holidays.
Three of the workers remain in New Zealand on valid work visas, while the fourth has left the country.
Immigration New Zealand national investigations manager Jason Perry said the case showed the serious impact exploitation can have on migrant workers.
He said the workers were effectively running the motel from morning until night while receiving pay for only a fraction of the hours they worked.
Perry said migrants have the same employment rights as every other worker in New Zealand and employers should not be able to gain a commercial advantage by underpaying staff or ignoring legal obligations.
While reparations had now been ordered, INZ said the payments could not undo the years the workers spent working excessive hours without receiving their full entitlements.
Source: 1News
