Queenstown hospitality and retail businesses disciplined in series of raids

Queenstown food outlets, bars, and shops have been targeted by government officials seeking to catch out bad employers.

Teams from the Ministry of Business, Employment and Innovation - namely Labour Inspectorate and Immigration New Zealand staff - have paid visits to 11 hospitality and retail businesses after receiving complaints of breaches of employment and immigration legislation.

In a statement this afternoon, Brendon Strieker, the compliance manager for the Labour Inspectorate’s Southern region, says while the volume of migrant exploitation identified by the Inspectorate across New Zealand has decreased from previous highs, the retail and hospitality sectors remain areas of poor behaviour.

“Following complaints from workers in these sectors in the Queenstown area we joined with our partners in Immigration New Zealand’s investigations, compliance, and risk and verification teams in an operation to check if there were issues with businesses not complying with the law in this area," Mr Strieker says in the statement.

“The Inspectorate’s focus was on ensuring minimum employment standards were being met and employers were doing the right thing by their employees. At the same time, the three teams from INZ checked to see employers were meeting their obligations with regard to the immigration responsibilities of migrant employees.”

He says the inspectorate views exploitation as amongst the most serious breaches of employment standards.

“Exploitation of vulnerable workers undermines the labour market by undercutting fair competition and causing great hardship to the individuals affected. As well as harming people and stifling innovation and productivity it also harms New Zealand’s international image and trade."

Meanwhile the statement says the immigration compliance team has supported labour inspectors at three visits and visited 10 businesses, where they served deportation liability notices and infringement notices. The government officials also took time to provide information about the rules to employers and employees, however several visas were still cancelled due to workers not complying with the conditions of their visas.

The immigration investigations team also visited five businesses, issuing two infringements, the statement says, while the risk and verification team visited three businesses to work with employers and ensure their understanding of the Accredited Employer Work Visa obligations.

Geoff Scott, Immigration New Zealand's national manager of risk and verification, says a gradual approach is important in raising awareness and helping employers to comply with their obligations.

"Our approach involves educating and engaging with employers, while also taking necessary actions such as issuing infringements, formal warnings, or pursuing legal action when required."

Labour inspectors visited nine outlets where employee records were checked, and employers and employees spoken to to identify any employment-related issues.

Mr Strieker says the team is still reviewing data collected during the operation and is unable to provide further details about what issues have been identified and what further enforcement action maybe necessary.

MBIE encourages anyone who thinks they or someone else have been treated unfairly in the workplace to contact them via 0800 209020, where any concerns will be handled in a safe environment.

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