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A former Christchurch motel owner who made his employees work up to 98 hours a week while paying them for just 40 has been sentenced for migrant exploitation.
Jian Li was sentenced in the Christchurch District Court on Wednesday to seven and a half months’ home detention after pleading guilty to seven migrant exploitation charges laid under the Immigration Act.
Li, who operated the Fei Huang Teng Da company, which trades as 315 Motel Riccarton, was investigated by Immigration NZ.
His company pleaded guilty to seven migrant exploitation charges in May while Li was out of the country.
Fei Huang Teng Da was ordered to pay just over $115,000 in reparation to the four victims.
Immigration NZ’s investigation found four migrant workers, who were employed as motel managers between February 2017 and December 2021, had to live on site and staff the reception from 7.30am til 9.30pm every day.
Immigration NZ found the workers were denied minimum wage payments, annual leave entitlements and extra pay for working public holidays.
“They were essentially running the motel from morning until night, seven days a week, while being paid for only a fraction of the hours they worked,” Immigration NZ said.
“That’s simply not acceptable. No one should be expected to work those kinds of hours without being paid properly.
“Despite working between 84 and 98 hours each week, they were generally paid for only 40 hours.”
Three of the workers remain in New Zealand on valid visas, while a fourth has left the country. The employees were also denied entitlements under the Holidays Act, including annual leave, Immigration NZ said.
The NZ Herald reported Li’s lawyer asked the court to hand out a sentence of community detention but the request was rejected because of the seriousness of the offending.
Immigration NZ said: “Employers shouldn’t be able to gain a financial advantage by cutting corners and exploiting their staff … employers who take advantage of workers who rely on them for both their job and their right to stay in New Zealand will be punished.
“All workers in New Zealand, regardless of where they are from or what visa they hold, are entitled to the minimum rights and protections provided under New Zealand law.”
-Allied Media