Queenstown businesses found to have breached employment laws during an audit operation in the resort last year have been named.
The ODT has obtained a copy of a Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) response to an Official Information Act request that names 18 businesses that had issues identified at audit.
The businesses are now complying with the rules.
A total of 41 businesses were subject to ''proactive audits'' during a joint operation by the Ministry and Immigration New Zealand last August.
Problems uncovered in the resort included employees not receiving the minimum wage of $13.25 an hour or not receiving public or annual holiday entitlements; and employers who did not have written employment agreements.
In November, the ministry announced it had taken action against 15 Queenstown businesses - most in the food and beverage sector - found to be in breach of employment and immigration laws.
However, the document obtained by the ODT only mentions employers for which issues arising from the audits were resolved as of last December.
As of yesterday evening, the ministry could not say how many audits remained outstanding.
Individuals can face penalties of up to $10,000 and companies up to $20,000 if the issues are not resolved.
Green Cabs Ltd managing director Callum Brown said the 10 people listed as employers in relation to the company were independent cab owners who had not understood a requirement to hold a passenger service licence if they wanted to employ drivers in their own right.
The company had worked with the ministry to ''make sure we were making the right changes'', and quickly rectified matters, he said.
Tin Goose owner Franco Caon said the ministry contacted him last year about ''issues that needed fixing'' in relation to an employment agreement.
''All I can say is that the transient nature of Queenstown sometimes makes it difficult to provide new employees right away with employment agreements, but that is normally taken care of as soon as possible.''
He was now fully aware of his obligations and confident the issue would not recur.
Fishbone co-owner Mark Godden said the company ''hadn't been made aware'' of a law change.
Although it had been paying staff the full entitlement, it had been recording the payments under an outdated system.
''It was sorted out very fast.''
Issues settled
Queenstown employers whose audits were resolved as of December:
Monty's Ltd; Caon Investments Ltd (Tin Goose); Dazmark Ltd (Fishbone); Ania-Kanu Ltd (The Spice Room); Ellis Hospitality Group Ltd; Japanese Cuisine Kappa Ltd; Philip and Leesa Ltd trading as Tham Nak Thai; Turkish Kebabs; Green Cabs Ltd (Matthew Scott Baumfield, Michael Duennbier, Pritpalsingh Gill, Eduardo Medeiros, Juhui Lee, Luis Kreische, Sergety Stetsov, Dennis Kosovich, Rone Nascimento and Beryl Macey).
