The Worker Protection (Migrant and Other Employees) Bill, which is expected to be enacted by August 2023, has the overall purpose of deterring employers from exploiting migrant workers. The bill will amend the Immigration Act 2009, the Employment Relations Act 2000, and the Companies Act 1993. The bill is the culmination of the Temporary Migrant Worker Exploitation Review which was prompted by Cabinet’s decision in September 2018 to take serious action to address migrant exploitation.
As the cases keep rolling in, migrant exploitation is obviously rife in New Zealand. Trustees of the Jesus Aroma Church, named by the ERA as Victoria Jeon, Joseph Jeon and Mi Sun Leem, have been ordered to pay more than $164,000 after two vulnerable migrant workers were found to have been exploited.
The church received donations from Korean Churches and used them to employ pastor and migrant Song Choi at the Dunedin Taekwondo Academy.
Song was supposed to be employed as a pastor at the church, but he in fact worked as an assistant to the qualified Taekwondo instructor, Andrew Jeon, who was similarly exploited.
The trustees took premiums or payments from the pair in exchange for jobs. They also failed to provide wages and time records.
The ERA ordered the trustees to pay Song $71,848 as arrears for wages and holiday pay and the premium of $64,172 that he had paid to the trustees.
The trustees were ordered to pay Jeon, the instructor, $49,634 for the premium he had paid earlier, including outstanding interest.
The ERA also ordered the trustees to pay $42,750 as penalty for the breaches in minimum employment standards.
The trust behind the church was de-registered in September 2022 due to “significant or persistent failure by the entity to meet its obligations” under the Charities Act.
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