Having employee on wrong visa brings fine
The scramble for qualified tradespeople for the Christchurch rebuild has led to an appearance in court by a firm that employed a tiler with the wrong immigration visa.
Christchurch District Court Judge David Saunders imposed a $3500 fine on Tile Master Ltd on a charge of breaching the Immigration Act.
He declined to impose any penalty on Issac Petros, the company director and major shareholder. He was convicted and ordered to pay only $130 court costs.
Defence counsel Paul Norcross said that since the prosecution the company had suffered dramatically and was struggling to find the labour to help fill its contracts.
The company and the director had pleaded guilty to the charge and were appearing for sentence.
The prosecution involved a Filipino national who came to New Zealand on a work visa, to work on the rebuild as a tiler.
When he arrived, the company that brought him out had collapsed, leaving him out of work.
The Filipino sought work through a recruitment firm which requested Petros to consider employing him.
Petros acknowledged that he did not check the paperwork carefully enough and did not realise that the Filipino’s visa required him to work only for the company that had brought him out.
The tiler requested that his visa be changed, but it was not done, and Petros acknowledged that he allowed him to keep working illegally.
Judge Saunders said: “The court is aware there is a concern about the way in which certain work visas have been granted and employers have taken advantage of and indeed abused migrant workers who are often too scared to complain for fear of deportation or repercussions in their employment. I don’t see this case as having sinister connotations.”
He said the firm was working hard but was struggling to recruit enough skilled people.
“It is well known to the court that there is a shortage of qualified tradesmen to be able to assist with the rebuild,” said Judge Saunders.
Category: Focus
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