AUCKLAND, New Zealand — According to www.nzherald.co.nz, the owner of Auckland carwash Manukau Auto Valet was fined $241,450 in employment law violations by underpaying staff for at least six years.
Dharmesh Kumar, director of Manukau Auto Valet, pleaded ignorance but admits that underpaying his workers was a mistake, the article noted.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) investigated Manukau Auto Valet and found that 221 employees had been underpaid, the article stated.
“For six years or more, Manukau Auto Valet Limited deprived some 221 employees of their most basic employment entitlements, failing to pay at least a minimum wage or holiday pay to employees leaving the company,” MBIE Labour Inspectorate regional manager Loua Ward said. “The Labour Inspectorate takes these kinds of breaches very seriously as not only did the employer breach the rights of the people working for them, they also attempted to gain an unfair advantage over their law-abiding competitors.”
The carwash has paid $96,451 in arrears to MBIE but must also pay a further $145,000 in penalties, the article concluded.
Read the full article here.
