Northland MP Winston Peters is calling on the Government to deport immigrant employers caught ripping off workers by underpaying or forcing them to work long hours.
The New Zealand First leader said recent cases of worker exploitation around the country, including a Whangarei restaurant owner who incorrectly paid his employees and failed to keep accurate employment records, were the tip of the iceberg.
Dayon Trading, which operated as Asahi Japanese Restaurant in central Whangarei, was found with multiple breaches of the Minimum Wages Act and the Holidays Act against 11 employees.
Its owner Sung Chul Shin was ordered to pay $28,000 in penalties but none of that award would benefit the affected employees from Korea and Japan because they had either left the country or were elsewhere in New Zealand. Mr Shin is in Korea and it is not certain if, or when, he will return to New Zealand.
"Immigrant employers caught ripping off workers should face deportation," Mr Peters said.