Police stopped from hiring overseas workers after breach of labour law

New Zealand Police have been found in breach of employment law by the Labour Inspectorate. Photo / File

New Zealand Police have been fined $7000 for failing to keep complete employment records.

The organisation has also been stood down from hiring overseas workers for six months, Stuff reported.

Police were placed on Immigration New Zealand's stand-down list after the Labour Inspectorate issued an infringement notice against it, Stuff reported.

The issue lay with how police paid their vetting staff, a spokeswoman told the Herald.

"Police vetters have traditionally been paid on a per file basis [as opposed to an hourly rate basis]. This file amount is based on the average time to complete an average file."

The Employment Relations and Holidays Act required a complete record of hours worked for a wage, she said.

New Zealand Police were in breach of this section of the Act as vetters' work was not recorded in this way, she said.

"The vetter records are now being amended to include hours worked each day," the spokeswoman said.

"This will be completed by the end of February 2020 and Police will ensure we are fully compliant with legislative requirements."

"Police will continue to work with the Labour Inspectorate to ensure we are achieving compliance with wage and time records, and other requirements of the Employment Relations and Holidays Act."

The police are prohibited from hiring migrant workers until July 28.

Under new measures put in place on April 1, 2017, employers are not able to recruit migrant workers if they do not comply with, or have breached, employment law.

A stand down period is forced on these employers as soon as the infringement notice is issued, the Employment New Zealand website states.