Auckland (Avneet Kaur)
A Bay of Plenty kiwifruit business owner has been fined $40,000 after an Employment Relations Authority investigation found multiple migrant workers were underpaid and denied basic employment rights.
Tarun Gautam, linked to a kiwifruit labour business in the region, was found to have breached several New Zealand employment laws involving vulnerable migrant workers employed in the horticulture sector.
The investigation revealed one worker, Jagmeet Singh, paid more than $23,000 in both Indian and New Zealand bank accounts to secure employment with the company.
According to findings released by the Employment Relations Authority, several payments were allegedly made directly to Gautam, while some money was also transferred to an account linked to Gautam’s mother in India.
However, despite paying large sums to obtain the job, Singh and other workers were later found to have been denied minimum employment entitlements, including proper holiday pay, annual leave payments and minimum wage protections.
The authority found five migrant employees had not received their full legal entitlements while working for the business.
Overall, wage arrears owed to workers totalled more than $8200.
The authority also found Singh made a final payment of more than $11,000 into a New Zealand bank account connected to Gautam. Because that payment was made within New Zealand, the authority ordered it to be repaid.
The ruling stated the case reflected a serious imbalance of power, where vulnerable migrant workers were employed without being provided the legal protections guaranteed under New Zealand employment law.
Investigators identified 12 separate breaches involving employment, holiday pay, minimum wage and wage protection legislation.
These included failures to maintain proper employment records, underpayment of wages, unpaid holiday entitlements and unlawfully demanding money from workers in exchange for employment.
As part of the ruling, each of the five affected workers will receive $5000 from penalty payments, while Jagmeet Singh will receive an additional $5000 connected to the unlawful premium payment.
The remaining penalty money will go to the Crown.
Labour Inspectorate officials say the case sends a strong warning to businesses attempting to exploit migrant labour, particularly within the horticulture industry.
Authorities stressed that most kiwifruit growers and labour hire operators follow employment rules properly, but warned there are still some businesses attempting to gain unfair advantages by taking advantage of vulnerable migrant workers.
The case comes shortly after a major Labour Inspectorate operation in the Bay of Plenty horticulture sector, where inspectors visited multiple orchard and labour hire sites to identify serious employment law breaches.
Officials say information gathered during those inspections is still being reviewed and further enforcement action may follow if additional violations are discovered.
The horticulture industry remains heavily dependent on migrant labour, especially during seasonal harvest periods, making worker protection and fair employment conditions an ongoing issue across the sector.
