A Dunedin grocery store and its director found to have flouted employment law have been fined $53,000.

The Employment Relations Authority (ERA) handed down the penalties for 40 employment breaches and attempting to deceive labour inspectors.

Director Quing (Jade) Luo, was made personally responsible for $8960 in fines.

In November 2017, inspectors visited the convenience store to check compliance with employment standards in retail and hospitality businesses in Dunedin.

It found several breaches relating to four Grocery King employees, including issues with record-keeping and holiday payments.

Although Grocery King assured it only ever employed four people, further investigation by the Labour Inspectorate confirmed the existence of four additional employees.

The eight people working for Grocery King included both New Zealand citizens and migrants.

The employer claimed these were just people who “helped out”. It kept no employment agreements or records for these workers.

“Any work by employees for gain or reward must be properly documented under New Zealand legislation,” Labour Inspectorate regional manager Jeanie Borsboom said.

The case was lodged with the ERA after the business failed to respond to a notice.

Source: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/115894519/dunedins-grocery-king-fined-53k-for-multiple-employment-breaches?cid=app-android

We cannot stress strongly enough the importance of good record keeping when it comes to your staff.  Not having a signed Employee Contract will incur a fine of upt to $10,000 per employee.  At any time a Labour Inspector can enter your site and request tthe following and you have to provide them straight away:

• Employee Contracts
• Timesheets
• Leave Records

Not having this info available straight away opens you up for a full MBIE Audit.