Christchurch bakery La Wheat to pay up $115,000 for underpaying workers
Wednesday, 13 February 2019
A Christchurch bakery and its owners have been ordered to pay $115,000 for under-paying two workers for several months.
A Labour Inspectorate investigation found cafe and bakery company La Wheat Limited underpaid former employees Sandeep Patel for almost 18 months and Manish Makkar for two months.
La Wheat had a bakery in Christchurch's Bush Inn Mall, as well as a bakery in Leeston and another in Methven.
La Wheat is owned by directors Wannakawatta Waduge Janaka Sujeewa Fernando and Arumadura Udeni LakmalI Fernando.
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The Fernandos admitted they incorrectly calculated Patel's holiday pay, but denied that he was owed any arrears of pay. They also initially denied employing Makkar, but then admitted to employing him while submitting evidence for the investigation.
Patel worked for La Wheat from June 2015 till about December 2016 and Makkar from October 2016 till December 2016.
Patel and Makkar raised their complaints with the Labour Inspectorate in January 2017.
The investigator found there had been previous complaints made about La Wheat between January and December 2016 which was dealt with by another Labour Inspectorate investigation.
Patel claimed he started working 5am to 8.30am and 3pm to 5pm shifts during the week but then significantly increased his hours during the weekend, typically from 4am until 8pm, Saturday and Sunday.
But his weekend hours became his daily hours from July 2016 till December 2016.
Patel claimed he worked every day during that period.
But the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) found it was unlikely Patel would have worked continuously for at least 15 hours a day, with no break for so many months.
'I do not believe that Mr Patel deliberately misled the authority. I believe that he was a victim of the passage of time which resulted in memory lapses, involuntary confabulation and unwitting exaggeration,' ERA member David Appleton said.
'There are very few people who can recall what they did every day in detail, up to three years later.'
The authority accepted the Labour Inspectorate's calculation that Patel was underpaid $43,382. Unpaid holiday pay and sick pay took the total to $60,071.
Aramadura Fernando sponsored Makkar's work visa stating that he would be employed as the manager of Leeston store as New Zealanders were not suitable for the role.
In the visa application Fernando said, 'no-one are [sic] ready to work the weekends and no-one are [sic] ready to start early. They do not have any background in bakery. Manish was the only suitable applicant'.
Makkar said a typical day for him started at 4am and finished at 10.30pm.
The authority calculated Makkar's total owed wages and holiday pay at $16,600.
La Wheat has been also been ordered to pay a penalty of $20,000 of which $12,500 would go to the Crown, $7500 to the Labour Inspectorate, $5000 to Patel and $2500 to Makkar.
The Fernandos were also fined $10,000 each.