Liquor bosses ordered to pay $250K for breaching minimum wage and holiday laws

The Bottle-O in Point Chevalier, which no longer trades, was one of the stores in the case. Photo / File

Former liquor store workers have been awarded $259,685 after their bosses failed to meet minimum pay and holiday rules.

The Employment Court ruling involves five workers and several liquor stores, including Point Chev Merchants Liquor, The Bottle-O Manly, The Bottle-O Point Chevalier and The Bottle-O Taihape and their director and shareholders. The firms, according to Companies Office records, are owned by Ravinder Kumar Arora, Anuradha Arora, and a trustee company that shares the pair’s listed address in the Auckland suburb of Greenlane.

The five workers, who were employed at certain times between January 26, 2016 and December 22, 2019, were not paid their entitlements under Minimum Wage Act and the Holidays Act, Judge Kathryn Beck ruled in a case brought against the stores and the Aroras by the Labour Inspector.

Beck ruled Nikhil Himilaya Point Chev (trading as Merchants Liquor) had breached minimum wage requirements by failing to pay minimum wages to worker Arjun Chopra.

As well as this, she said the company didn’t pay Chopra minimum entitlements for holidays and failed to keep accurate wage and time records.

Beck ordered the company to pay Chopra arrears owed to him to compensate him for unpaid entitlements arising under minimum entitlement provisions prior to 1 April 2016, specifically $2999.25 for its breach of section six of the Minimum Wage Act.

For the period after April 2016, she ordered the defendant pay Chopra $52,139.98 for its breach of the same act, $6543.33 for its breach of section 24 and $2709 for breaching section 25 of the Holidays Act.

Another defendant, Nikhil Himalaya Liquor (trading as The Bottle-O Manly) also breached the Minimum Wage Act, failed to keep accurate records of wages and time and breached the Holidays Act. It was ordered to pay nearly $65,000 to Sarabjeet Singh.

Likewise, Beck declared Nikhil Himalaya Holdings Limited (trading as Bottle-O Point Chevalier) had also breached these orders as well the Holidays Act.

That company was ordered to pay Amandeep Singh just over $55,000 and Amarjit Singh $33,000.

She made the same declarations for Nikhil Himalaya Taihape Limited (trading as The Bottle-O Taihape), who was ordered to pay Gurjit Singh $42,000.

Ravinder Kumar Arora and Anuradha Arora, Beck ruled, were both involved in the breaches and were ordered the compensate the aggrieved employees to the extent that any of the companies are unable to pay the amounts ordered.

Ravinder Kumar Arora was banned from being involved in the hiring of employees for a period of 12 months from February 27 this year, Beck ordered.