KEY POINTS:
A man who worked for free for nearly two years will finally get paid after the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) ordered his employer to cough up.
James Tahere worked at Cinema 3 Limited in Tokoroa as manager and head projectionist for 21 months without wages or holiday pay.
He had a written employment agreement for fulltime work at an hourly rate of $20 but never received a cent between January 4 2006 and October 22 2007.
Mr Tahere told the ERA he carried on because he enjoyed the work and received assurances from cinema owner Peter Puschmann that he would be paid.
Mr Tahere eventually took his case to the ERA and last week was awarded $51,145 after Mr Puschmann failed to make a statement or attend mediation.
Mr Puschmann was also ordered to reimburse Mr Tahere $70 for the ERA application.
But Mr Puschmann told nzherald.co.nz that he will appeal the case. He said he closed the cinema and will be putting his business into liquidation.
"He [Mr Tahere] managed the cinema. He used the cash to pay wages. So he was in charge of doing all the wages of the staff. He was in charge of his own wages as well," he said.
Mr Puschmann, who lives in Auckland, said he was only made aware of the case on the day and could not attend the hearing.
"I can't believe that anyone would not jump up and down after not getting paid for a week or after a month. You would say I'm not coming to work until I get paid." "How can I hold a gun to the guy and say: You get to that picture theatre and work. It's ridiculous for words," Mr Puschmann said.
Unite Union represents Cinema workers at Berkeley Cinemas, Hoyts, Sky City and Reading Cinemas. National director Mike Treen said he has never heard of anyone working for two years without being paid.
He said he has come across cases when workers were underpaid for that long and they were usually people whose legal status in the country was not safe. But Mr Treen said the union will take up cases no matter what the person's legal status is.
He said people who have been told they would be paid but receive no money from their employer should get help as soon as possible.
Mr Tahere could not be contacted.
- NZPA/HERALD ONLINE
