Labour Party list MP Ibrahim Omer wants to criminalise stealing from employees. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Labour Party list MP Ibrahim Omer wants to criminalise stealing from employees. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Labour list MP Ibrahim Omer had only just begun working in New Zealand after arriving as a refugee in the 2000s when his employer stole money from him.
Omer was working in the Wairarapa, with the company shuttling Omer to Martinborough from Lower Hutt each day for work.
At the end of a week’s work, Omer’s supervisor told him he had done a poor job that was not worth the cost of shuttling him to and from work and that therefore he should not be paid.
“I was doing farm work in Martinborough… after a week [my supervisor] told me, ‘you did a bad job - you broke some trees and the boss is going to fine you for this money’” Omer said.
“‘You should be paying me to transporting you for seven days from Lower Hutt all the way to Martinborough. If you have any decency, you should pay me, otherwise piss off’” Omer recalled his supervisor saying.
Omer said he simply slammed the car door on his supervisor and walked away, forgoing payment for a week’s work.
Omer, now an MP and contesting the Wellington Central electorate for Labour, said the problem is rife, particularly in low-paid, casual sectors that often rely on migrant labour.
It is common for people to have the hours they work under-reported, leading to lower pay, or for employers to argue down the work a labourer has done.
It is already against the law in almost all circumstances to withhold pay, or deliberately underpay staff, but Omer said the law is regularly flouted.
He feared that some businesses rely on regularly underpaying their employees, and have baked it into their business model.
“Look at what happened in some of the restaurant chains. They would [work] people for 70 hours, pay them for 30 and they ask people to pay them $30,000 for getting them a visa to come to work,” Omer said.
He has drafted a Member’s Bill criminalising wage theft, which will make it a criminal offence for an employer to not pay owed wages to an employee.
The bill as currently drafted could see employers fined up to $5000 and face up to one year in prison if they deliberately withhold wages. Employing entities could be in line for fines up up to $30,000.
A commentary on the bill from McVeagh Fleming lawyers noted that the bill as drafted “does not include punishment for directors who aid and abet the breach.
“Therefore, directors of companies could potentially avoid personal liability under the Crimes Act if the current version of the Bill is passed. However under existing legislation, directors who aided and abetted the conduct can be held personally liable to pay penalties,” they said.
The commentary noted that compared to other jurisdictions, New Zealand’s sanctions against wage theft seem “relatively light”.
They said the current law focuses on “compliance and penalties”.
People working in sectors like cleaning are often underpaid, Omer said. Photo / 123rf
“The Bill on the other hand, seeks to increase the costs and risks involved for employers who fail to pay their employees,” they said.
The bill was drawn from the Member’s Ballot in April and is currently awaiting its first reading, which is likely before the election.
CTU President Richard Wagstaff said wage theft was “an insidious practice that tends to target low-income and immigrant workers.
“We see too many stories of hard-working people being ripped off by unscrupulous bosses with no real repercussions,” he said.
”We back meaningful penalties for employers who steal from their workers. It is important that the law makes clear that these criminal penalties do not replace the obligation to pay back the wages owed to workers,” he said.
The bill could pass with Labour’s majority, however it will not come anywhere near close to passing through all stages ahead of the election in October, meaning it will need the support of other parties.
National’s workplace relations spokesman Paul Goldsmith said he had not yet asked caucus whether it would support the bill, but conceded it would be unlikely to get National’s backing.
Omer said National should support the bill, if only to treat all crimes equally.
He said it was inconsistent that employees faced criminal sanctions when stealing from their employers, but employers could steal from their employees without facing criminal penalties.
“Here we are - Labour is getting tough on crime, because stealing someone’s money is a crime,” Omer said.
“We want the National party for once to exercise what they preach and get tough on crime and get behind this,” he said.
Act leader David Seymour said his party would be unlikely to support the bill, saying he did not see widespread evidence the existing rules were not protecting employees
“It just seems that employers already face, you know, a pretty continual increase in obligations. This is just another one and made worse by the need to prove intent which leads to a level of uncertainty and legal jeopardy that will have to be resolved by the courts,” Seymour said.
