Super Liquor franchisee Nekita Enterprises 'exploited staff'

Monday, 17 February 2020

Harjit Singh is a director and shareholder of Nekita Enterprises. Super Liquor Holdings cut ties with the company after it allegedly exploited staff.

A national liquor store chain has severed ties with one of its largest franchisees – a company controlled by a couple who own millions of dollars worth of property – after an investigation found it exploited staff.

Super Liquor Holdings last week terminated its contracts with Nekita Enterprises Ltd, which was established in 2002 and operates 15 bottle stores in Christchurch, Ashburton and Methven.

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The company's directors and joint shareholders are Harjit and Shereen Singh, who own about a dozen residential properties in Christchurch worth more than $6 million.

* How the liquor store industry is riddled with worker exploitation

* Liquor stores across New Zealand running on the labour of exploited migrants**

The February 12 action by Super Liquor Holdings followed an investigation by the Labour Inspectorate, sparked by a complaint about Nekita Enterprises in January 2019 alleging numerous employment law breaches.

Super Liquor Pages Rd is among 15 bottle stores owned by Nekita Enterprises.

The investigation found the company:

- Failed to pay staff the minimum wage.

- Required employees to 'pay a premium' by paying the correct hourly rate and then forcing them to pay it back.

- Kept inaccurate wages and time and leave records. The poor record keeping meant that it was unable to show whether other minimum standards, for example holiday pay, had been met at all times.

The inspectorate has filed proceedings with the Employment Relations Authority seeking an order for 'penalties and arrears'.

It is not the first time Nekita Enterprises has come under scrutiny over its employment practices.

A similar complaint was made about the company in 2016, but the allegations were not proved after witnesses were not willing to come forward.

Super Liquor Holdings chief executive Campbell McMahon said the Labour Inspectorate's most recent investigation into Nekita Enterprises had identified employment breaches 'across multiple stores, over a number of years, affecting a number of staff'.

As a result, the company had 'materially' breached the terms of its franchise agreements, resulting in their termination, effective immediately.

'There is no place in the Super Liquor franchise community for this kind of behaviour and we are on public record as having declared zero tolerance for fundamental breaches of employment law,' he said.

Nekita Enterprises' stores would trade as Super Liquor stores until 'debranding is concluded', which would be no later than March 27, an email to shareholders last week says.

It is unclear what their future is beyond that date.

Christchurch City Council head of regulatory compliance Tracey Weston said the trading name of a business was not a condition on a licence and could be changed at any time.

The council was not aware of the outcome of the inspectorate's investigation, but 'we will consider any matters relevant to alcohol licensing and the implications for any licence held', Weston said.

Harjit Singh declined to comment when contacted by Stuff on Monday.

McMahon said Super Liquor Holdings had a franchise agreement with each of its 178 stores nationwide, requiring them to comply with all aspects of the law.

The employment relationship was between the franchisee and the employee.

Migrant Workers' Association's Anu Kaloti talks to Radio Tarana's Vandhna Bhan about migrant worker exploitation issues. (Video first published November 2019)

'Nevertheless, we take the welfare of all Super Liquor people extremely seriously, and we expect our franchisees to do the same. Our franchisees are in a position of trust and we hold them to high standards of behaviour.'

Last year Harjit Singh said he would stop selling cigarettes at his liquor store on Woodham Rd, following two armed robberies where cash and cigarettes were taken.

'I'm finding it hard to find staff because this can happen again and again, and it could be life and death one day,' he said.

Migrant exploitation is a significant issue in New Zealand.

Last October, the Labour Inspectorate said it had taken prosecutions against 60 bottle store owners in the past two years, and had 15 more actions in the pipeline. Its national investigations manager, Stu Lumsden, estimated 40 per cent of all stores were breaching labour laws in some way.

Super Liquor has already stripped several other franchisees of their affiliation after complaints of migrant exploitation.

Workers at its Mt Albert, Auckland store last year alleged they were paid as little as $6 an hour, leading to owner Bhushan Kumar Bansal losing his franchise.

And Kuldip Kaur Parihar and Paramjeet Parihar lost the franchises from their two Hamilton stores after it was found they had underpaid migrant staff by as much as $250,000. They were fined $200,000 for what a judge called 'heinous' offending.

NEKITA ENTERPRISES LTD'S STORES:

Super Liquor Ashburton, Super Liquor Brighton (Christchurch), Super Liquor East Street (Ashburton), Super Liquor Lyttelton, Super Liquor Methven, Super Liquor Pages Road (Christchurch), Super Liquor Seaside (Christchurch), Wigram (Christchurch), Super Liquor Woodend, Super Liquor Woolston (Christchurch), Allenton Liquor (Ashburton), Ferrymead Wine and Spirits (Christchurch), Wainoni Liquor Store (Christchurch), Wairakei Road Liquor Store (Christchurch), and Woodham Road Liquor (Christchurch).