By Gurbir Singh:
Two Domino’s pizza franchise companies in Auckland, have been penalised $32,400 for serious breaches of employment law, following a Labour Inspectorate investigation.
During the Labour investigation, it was found that E Lynn Ltd. and E Ming Ltd., operated by Xi (Bruce) Chen as Director, had failed to provide their employees with individual employment agreements that complied with s65 of the Employment Relations Act 2000 and s52 of the Holidays Act 2003; to keep wage and time records that were compliant with s 130 of the Act, and to keep holiday and leave records that complied with s81 of the Holidays Act.
Both these Domino’s franchises are based in Henderson and Te Atatu, Auckland and were operated by these two companies between 2011 and February 2017.
The breaches affected some 112 staff across both and in addition to penalties, Chen also had to pay his staff more than $54,000 in arrears.
In the media release of MBIE this morning, Labour Inspectorate Retail Lead, Loua Ward says, “It’s disappointing to see companies operating under established and international brands, failing to provide employees with their minimum rights.
“It’s quite unacceptable that they do not have a …systematic approach …to ensure compliance with minimum employment rights, for what can be very vulnerable workers.
“It’s simply not acceptable for businesses to ‘fix things up’ after the event. Businesses and their brands must have mechanisms in place to monitor and prevent employment standards breaches. It’s the ‘getting it right’ that counts.
“Businesses and their associates should know that the Labour Inspectorate will hold them fully and publicly to account for failing to comply with the law.
“There’s a reminder for consumers here too, and that’s to be mindful about whether your money is going into the right pocket. For a five dollar pizza, workers shouldn’t have to pay the price,” says Ms Ward.
Both franchises were taken over by Domino’s Pizza Enterprises on 28 February 2017 which subsequently purchased them.
