Eighteen kiwifruit contractors in New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty region have been found in breach of the country’s labour laws, according to media reports.
Eight illegal workers were also found on orchards in the area during a week-long probe by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and Immigration New Zealand during May.
The New Zealand Herald claims investigators visited 35 contractors across the Bay of Plenty, issuing 22 improvement notices for a total of 39 minimum employment standard breaches. This included 11 cases of inadequate employment arrangements, a further 11 cases of unacceptable time recording and 8 incidents of insufficient wage recording.
Last November, one Bay of Plenty contractor was found to have seriously breached employment laws, prompting the recent investigation.
“Seven labour inspectors and six immigration officers were involved in the first phase of the audit programme, with police assisting on two occasions,” MBIE’s labour inspectorate general manager, George Mason, told the New Zealand Herald. 'The level of non-compliance identified during this operation was disappointing, especially the lack of acceptable time records. Failure to maintain accurate time, wage and leave records is a key focus for the labour inspectorate, with breaches subject to compliance action and potentially penalties.”
