The Employment Relations Authority (ERA) has fined a North Island forestry company $35,000 for paying less than minimum wage and banned it from hiring migrants.
The ERA found Silviculture Solutions Ltd (SSL) used "an illegal system of calculating pay", where the workers were paid only for what the company deemed "productive hours".
The company was prosecuted after an audit of 10 silviculture businesses in the central North Island by the Labour Inspectorate in 2016.
"The four workers received between $241-$4,846 below their minimum wage entitlement, for more than a year," the Labour Inspectorate's Kevin Finnegan said.
"The penalties automatically place SSL on the Immigration Stand Down List, preventing them from hiring migrant workers for 18 months.