Worker ‘felt like a prisoner’ working 60 hours, being paid for 30

Friday, 19 January 2024

A woman who says she felt like a prisoner in her job at an Alexandra bar, restaurant and hotel will be paid $34,370, after an investigation by the Labour Inspectorate.

The woman, whom Stuff has agreed not to name, said she regretted coming to New Zealand after being exploited for almost a year in her role at the Criterion Club.

“I have never seen a jail, but I felt I was a prisoner. I was sorry I had ever come to New Zealand. It was a very emotional time and I just wanted to leave,” she said.

The woman and her husband moved from the North Island to Alexandra to take up the job.

She said she worked 50 to 60 hours a week as assistant manager between June 2019 and February 2020 but was only paid for 30. Her employment agreement said she would be paid $20 an hour.

She usually worked six days a week but said she felt trapped because her accommodation was part of her employment agreement. She and her husband would have nowhere to live if she left.

“My work situation had a negative effect on my family and social life. I just didn’t want to talk to anyone. I felt very sad.”

She decided to resign after nine months but when she asked for her final holiday pay, her employers “kept making excuses” for why they could not pay, she said. She approached the Labour Inspectorate for help.

It investigated and found that 4S Hospitality, which operates the Criterion Club, had kept falsified records of the hours that the woman had worked.

This was determined using external eftpos records, information from the electronic gaming machines and data from the TAB terminal, which recorded staff on duty and showed the true hours she was working.

It then took its case to the Employment Relations Authority.

The authority accepted the business had not kept accurate records for the time the woman was working and this resulted in her not being paid for all the hours she worked.

She was awarded $14,770 in arrears for money she had earned but not been paid.

It also ordered $24,000 in penalties against the company and $12,000 against Kuljinder Singh Sidhu who helped run the business and had hired the woman.

It found that even though he did not own the business, he knew it was not accurately recording her time worked or keeping up with the holiday pay requirements.

Half of the penalties will be paid to the woman. The authority ordered 4S Hospitality to pay her $1500 in interest.

Simon Humphries, head of compliance and enforcement at the Labour Inspectorate, said exploitation of workers and causing their health and wellbeing to suffer was unacceptable and remained a concern.

He hoped employers tempted to take unfair advantage of their employees would take note that worker exploitation would not be tolerated.

“It’s disheartening to see that this employee felt helpless and suffered the deliberate and systemic offending that her employer caused. As happened in this case, exploitative employers can expect to be heavily penalised for their wrongdoing.

“Fortunately, the complainant in this case did the right thing by reporting the abuse and our team was able to help.”

The employee said she was now aware of her rights.

“I would recommend that anyone who feels they are not being treated fairly at work to reach out to the Labour Inspectorate for help.

“Doing so changed my life and I now love this country because they looked after me.”