The combined MBIE agency operation was led by the Labour Inspectorate and also involved teams from Immigration New Zealand.
Brendon Strieker, Compliance Manager for the Labour Inspectorate’s Southern region, said that while the volume of migrant exploitation identified by the Inspectorate across New Zealand has decreased from previous highs, the retail and hospitality sectors remained areas of poor behaviour.
He said the Inspectorate viewed 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.
“Following complaints from workers in these sectors in the Queenstown area we joined with our partners in Immigration New Zealand’s (INZ) 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.
“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 responsibilities with regard to the immigration responsibilities of migrant employees.”
The Immigration Compliance team supported labour inspectors at three visits and visited 10 businesses where they served deportation liability notices (DLNs) and infringement notices. Educational engagements with employers and employees were held and several visas were cancelled due to workers not complying with the conditions of their visa.
The Immigration Investigations team visited five businesses and two infringements were issued.
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, INZ National Manager of Risk and Verification, emphasises the importance of a gradual approach in raising awareness and getting employers to comply with their obligations, including individual visa holders.
"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."
For their part, labour inspectors visited nine outlets where employee records were checked and employers and employees were spoken to so any employment-related issues could be identified.
Mr Strieker said the operation was a good example of MBIE’s use of an integrated approach to compliance and enforcement with teams from different agencies working closely together for a common goal.
He said the Labour Inspectorate team was still reviewing data collected during the operation and could not give details about what issues had been identified and what further enforcement action might be necessary.
MBIE encourages anyone who thinks they or someone else has been treated unfairly in the workplace to contact our 0800 20 90 20 contact centre number where their concerns will be handled in a safe environment.