Bosses found to have violated Minimum Wage Act 1983 and Holidays Act 2003
Several liquor companies in New Zealand have been ordered by the Employment Court to pay five employees more than $250,000 for breaching minimum wage and holiday laws.
The companies ordered to pay include Merchants Liquor, The Bottle-O Manly, The Bottle-O Point Chevalier, and The Bottle-O Taihape.
These liquor stores are owned by Ravinder Kumar Arora and Anuradha Arora, who are also identified as defendants in the case.
Judge Kathryn Beck ruled that these companies breached the Minimum Wage Act 1983 and Holidays Act 2003 for not paying five staff members who were separately employed between Jan. 26, 2016, and Dec. 22, 2019.
Wage breaches
Merchants Liquor failed to pay minimum wages and holiday payments to Arjun Chopra, according to the court document.
The Employment Court then ordered Merchants Liquor to pay Chopra $2,999.25, amounting to the arrears owed to him for unpaid entitlements prior to April 1, 2016. It also directed the employer to pay $52,139.98 for breaching the Minimum Wage Act 1983; $6,543.33 for violating section 24 of the Holidays Act 2003; and $2,709 for breaching section 25 of the Holidays Act 2003.
The Bottle-O Manly is also ordered to pay Sarabjeet Singh with $57,730.14 after breaching section 6 of the Minimum Wage Act 1983 and $7,187.72 for violating section 24 of the Holidays Act 2003.
The Bottle-O Point Chevalier was ordered to pay two former employees, Amandeep Singh and Amarjit Singh, after it breached the entitlement provisions under the Minimum Wage Act 1983 and Holidays Act 2003.
Amandeep Singh will receive $48,117.55 for the employer's Minimum Wage Act breach as well as a total of $7,070.83 for violations on the sections 24 and 25 of the Holidays Act 2003.
Amarjit Singh will receive $30,180.96 for the employer's violation of the Minimum Wage Act 1983. The ex-employee will also receive a total of $2,911.12 for the company's breaches on the Holiday Act 2003.
The Bottle-O Taihape was ordered to pay Gurjit Singh with $34,932.11 for violating the Minimum Wage Act 1983, as well as a total of $7,163.01 for breaches on sections 24 and 25 of the Holidays Act 2003.
"Payment of the amounts ordered (totalling $259,685, gross before tax) is to be made to the Labour Inspector for distribution to the five affected employees, in accordance with their entitlements outlined above," Beck said in the ruling.
Employment ban
Meanwhile, the court has ordered Ravinder Kumar Arora and Anuradha Arora to compensate the five employees for "suffering pecuniary loss as a result of breaches of minimum entitlement provisions … to the extent that any of the first to fourth defendants are unable to pay the amounts ordered."
Both have been identified as people "involved in breaches of minimum entitlement provisions" committed by the liquor companies.
Ravinder is also banned by the court from entering an employment agreement as an employer, as well as being involved in the hiring or employment of employees for a period of 12 months from Feb. 27, 2023.
The Employment Court's orders came after the plaintiff and the defendants reached an agreement on certain facts, such as the employers failing to pay entitlements pursuant to the Minimum Wage Act 1983 and the Holidays Act 2003.
"The first to fourth defendants have acknowledged that they have breached employment standards, including breaches of minimum entitlement provisions in respect of the five complainant employees. They have also acknowledged record-keeping breaches in relation to wage and time records, and holiday and leave records," Beck said in the ruling. "The sixth and seventh defendants have acknowledged their involvement in the breaches, relevant to the breaches of the minimum entitlement provisions committed on and after 1 April 2016."
