Thursday, 24 December 2020, 10:02 am
A bottle store in Papatoetoe is the latest bottle store
to be penalised and ordered to pay arrears for exploiting a
migrant worker by breaching their employment
rights.
Basra and Khella Limited, trading as Super
Liquor Papatoetoe, has been ordered by the Employment
Relations Authority to pay $18,000 in penalties and more
than $28,000 in arrears to a former worker. The breaches
include more than $25,000 in unpaid wages, and more than
$3,000 in unpaid holidays and leave allowances.
Due to
inaccurate record keeping by Basra and Khella’s sole
director and employer Ravinda Basra, the Authority’s
determination relied on the worker’s testimony along with
Mike Petrucci
The unnamed migrant worker would sometimes work shifts of up to 12 hours to keep the liquor store running. (File photo) The authority heard the worker was commuting six days a week from their home on the North Shore to South Auckland for work, where shifts would regularly go for 12 hours and were often not paid in full. Ward said the inspectorate was working with bottle store franchisors to stamp out exploitation in this industry. “Since these breaches occurred in 2017 and 2018, Super Liquor have taken significant steps to improve their compliance with employment minimum standards. We expect other franchises and brands to follow Super Liquor’s lead, and do more to stop exploitation before it happens in their stores,” she said.
Auckland bottle store ordered to pay $46k for exploiting worker
23 Dec, 2020 07:31 PM
3 minutes to read
NZ Herald
A Papatoetoe bottle store has been ordered to pay thousands of dollars of compensation for exploiting a migrant worker.
Basra and Khella Ltd, trading as Super Liquor Papatoetoe, has been ordered by the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) to pay $18,000 in penalties and more than $28,000 in arrears to a former worker.
The breaches include more than $25,000 in unpaid wages, and more than $3000 in unpaid holidays and leave allowances.
The Authority heard the worker was commuting six days a week from their home in the North Shore to South Auckland for work, where shifts would regularly go for 12 hours and were often unpaid in full.
Labour Inspectorate sector lead Loua Ward said the authority heard the worker was commuting six days a week from their home in the North Shore to the bottle shop in south Auckland, where shifts would regularly last for 12 hours and were often unpaid in full.
Ward said because Basra and Khella s sole director and employer Ravinda Basra had failed to keep accurate records, the authority relied on the worker s testimony, along with his public transport records, time stamped photos and purchase receipts from neighbouring businesses to prove his claims. This is not the first time the Inspectorate has brought alternative evidence like this to show an employer s exploitative actions, especially where an absence of accurate wage and time records has occurred, Ward said on Thursday.