Pizza delivery drivers breach work permits

Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

About a fifth of Pizza Hut's delivery drivers have been told they can no longer work for the company because the role is contrary to the terms of their student work permits.

But some have been asked to reapply for the same jobs without disclosing their immigration status - a ploy that could see their employer fall foul of immigration authorities.

Immigration policy allows international students to work up to 20 hours a week and full time during the Christmas-New Year holiday period, but they are not permitted to be self-employed.

However, Pizza Hut drivers are employed as "independent contractors" and are therefore considered to be self-employed.

Pizza Hut operations manager Allan Simons said in an internal email that the employment of all drivers on student permits would be terminated immediately.

"The conditions of their visa state that they may not be self-employed, i.e. a contractor," Mr Simons said.

"We also should not be collecting any information regarding our drivers' visas/work permit status.

"The intranet form has been changed so you are not required to enter a work permit/visa expiry."

But immigration authorities yesterday told the Herald that Pizza Hut could be breaking the law if it knowingly employed workers in breach of their work permit.

The Pizza Hut email also names 85 drivers who are working on student permits.

Russel Creedy, chief executive of Pizza Hut's parent company Restaurant Brands, said the discovery that the pizza subsidiary had contractors on student permits working for it was made during an intranet systems review in the past fortnight.

"The requirement is that we don't have to collect information on visa status of contractors but we have, and so discovered that some of our drivers were on student permits," Mr Creedy said.

Most of the 85 people affected had been asked to reapply to work as part-time employees "to get around the issue".

But if any wanted to continue working on the same contract terms as contractors, the company would no longer want to know their immigration status, Mr Creedy said.

The head of Immigration New Zealand, Nigel Bickle, said the agency would approach Pizza Hut to discuss the situation now that the matter had been brought to its attention.