Nail spas are among more than 50 employers who have been placed on an immigration stand-down list. File photo. Photo: 123RF
A charitable foundation, a church trust and nail spas are among the businesses on an immigration stand-down list, a public record of employers shows.
Two men have also received lifetime bans from employing migrants after their offending landed them in court.
More than 50 employers have been fined since an immigration infringement scheme was introduced in April, to deal with offences such as employing people without a visa.
A total of $196,000 in penalties were imposed on the companies.
They ranged from $1000 for individual employers to $15,000 for businesses who committed several offences.
The companies on that list include Waitatapia Station, Union Square Bistro & Bar in Martinborough, Food Envy and Windale Dairy Farm Limited Partnership.
Companies are automatically added to the immigration stand-down list, usually for 6-12 months.
But Tauranga kiwifruit labour contractor Jafar Kurisi will be on the list permanently for exploiting four illegal migrant workers, one of whom shared a garage with 19 others for four months, with no heating or insulation.
He underpaid them thousands of dollars in wages and charged them $100 a week in rent and travel costs for some to get to and from work.
Kaiapoi Domino's pizza franchise owner Chang-Wei Tsao also has a lifetime ban for migrant exploitation. Investigators found Tsao coerced an employee to work beyond their visa expiry date and forced three others to work more than the 20 hours per week permitted by their student visa. He exploited another by demanding a premium for the job and underpaying wages and leave.
He is serving 10 months home detention.
Infringement notices violations include employing people in breach of their visa conditions or who are unlawfully in New Zealand.
Immigration New Zealand (INZ) said agriculture, construction, hospitality and retail had the most infringements.
Employment relations authority cases
"While we will still prosecute where we see serious breaches of immigration law, the introduction of infringement penalties provides a new avenue for swift and high impact action," said INZ spokesperson Michael Carley.
"We can now tackle non-compliance with greater efficiency and speed, making sure that employers follow the regulations and safeguard migrants from exploitation."
A separate stand-down list records action taken after rulings by the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) in relation to New Zealand or migrant employees. Employers who breach employment standards cannot support visa applications for a set period of time.
Panda Restaurant in the Auckland suburb of Browns Bay was stood down for a year after being ordered to pay almost $300,000 by the ERA. An employee paid the company $116,000 for a job, which then underpaid him.
Victoria Jeon, Joseph Jeon and Misun Leem - trustees of Jesus Aroma Church Trust - were ordered to pay more than $164,000 after two vulnerable migrant workers were found to have been exploited.
The Port Hills Foundation Charitable Trust was ordered to pay compensation to two employees, one worker sacked without notice two days before Christmas after doing five weeks' work, and the second sacked before her job began - and which would have been paid at less than half the minimum wage.
The Employment New Zealand stand-down list features more than 60 companies including Springs Junction Café and Motor Inn, Wanganui Ballet & Dance Academy, Elev 8 Skincare Academy and Beauty Clinic, Bestbase Construction Group, Happiness Angel Nail Spa, Loctun Deluxe Nail and Beauty.
