A migrant worker was charged more than $10,000 in fees to get a job by a Singaporean agency used by an Auckland construction company and was subsequently told after a week of work that his services were no longer required.
The Employment Relations Authority heard 6 Meter Homes was accredited to recruit an estimated 55 migrants but was likely to have known and profited from the agency charging an $11,000 job premium.
The mansion-building firm was ordered to pay more than $46,000 in compensation, fines and lost wages, with its founder Wenbin (Ray) Hua to pay $6,000 of that for seeking a premium from worker Shunxu Zhou.
Zhou was recruited from Singapore and paid the equivalent of around NZD$11,700 over 2022 and 2023 to get a job and an accredited employer work visa.
Authority member Nicola Craig said in her decision that “the amount of money Mr Zhou was required to pay was significant from his perspective”.
“He spent all his savings, as well as borrowing money, to pay the fee, hoping to create a better future for his family.”
Zhou arrived in New Zealand in 2023 after a delay in his visa and was recruited by Hua as a carpenter, despite his experience being in installing outdoor advertising boards.
He was dismissed with little explanation a week after beginning house framing work at a South Auckland work site, and his messages to Hua went unanswered on several occasions.
“Mr Zhou was significantly affected by his dismissal – sadness with no job or income, having to borrow money from family and friends to survive. He felt helpless and guilty, unable to earn in a foreign country to provide for his family back home,” Craig said.
“Despair led to physical and mental exhaustion.”
A director of the Singaporean agency used by Hua — referred to as Mr B and X Ltd — said the $11,000 fee was for a “business consulting agreement”.
Hua denied any relationship or profit share with the Singaporean agency, although he referred to Mr B as a friend.
Charging a worker a premium for a job was unlawful under the Wages Protection Act.
The ERA determination made the conclusion that the business consultancy agreement “disguised the real nature of the arrangements”.
“It is more likely than not that Mr Hua and/or 6 Meter was seeking and received money from B and/or X Ltd.”
It ruled the breaches were serious and that it was important to punish companies to deter others from following suit.
The Authority ordered the business to pay Zhou $13,035 in lost wages, $17,000 in compensation, as well as an $8,000 penalty for the job premium he paid.
6 Meter was ordered to pay $2,000, while Hua personally was to pay $6,000 to the ERA as penalty for charging a job premium.
