Two cleaning businesses and their owners have been penalised $55,000 by the Employment Relations Authority for misclassifying permanent staff as "casuals".
A Labour Inspectorate investigation found the Timaru-based operations Cleantime Solutions Limited and Busy Bees, which employed 53 employees, had misclassified 29 of them as "casuals".
Under their working arrangements they should have been permanent employees and entitled to all of the associated benefits.
Last November, the Employment Relations Authority had found the owners Binesh Shukul and Ranjana Reddy to have breached the Holidays Act 186 times, which involved non and incorrect payments, with arrears owed to 29 employees, and inaccurate record-keeping relating to 53 employees.
They have been ordered to repay and remediate their workers, with Cleantime penalised $40,000. Shukul and Reddy were penalised $10,000 and $5000 respectively