The Employment Relations Authority (ERA) has ordered a South Waikato farmer and his dairy farming business to pay penalties of $30,000 for breach of employment standards relating to four employees.
The order by ERA Member Shane Kinley, follows a Labour Inspectorate investigation in February 2022 at a farm owned by H&S Chisholm Farms Ltd in the Putaruru area.
During the investigation, the Labour Inspector found 34 breaches of employment standards at the farm and the owner Hugh Chisholm was involved in committing the breaches.

Breaches found included minimum wages not paid, holiday entitlements not provided,failure to properly pay for work on public holidays,failure to provide sick leave,deductions from wages made without consent from employees and inadequate record keeping.
As a result Kinley ordered H & S Chisholm Farms Ltd to pay a penalty of $20,000 and Hugh Chisholm a penalty of $10,000.
Following an agreement between the Labour Inspectorate, H & S Chisholm Farms Ltd and Hugh Chisholm, arrears of $13,992 were paid to the four employees affected by the breaches.
In his ruling Kinley said the Labour Inspector had submitted that the respondents “incomplete and inconsistent approach to record-keeping had undermined their ability to effectively enforce employment standards and placed employees at a disadvantage.”
Labour Inspectorate Head Simon Humphries said while the farm and its owner had co-operated with the Labour Inspector and agreed to pay the arrears owed to the employees it was nonetheless unacceptable and disturbing that they had allowed the breaches to happen in the first place.
In 2017, H & S Chisholm Farms Ltd was fined $57,375 for discharging dairy effluent into a waterway. The Waikato Regional Council prosecuted the company under the Resource Management Act.
Also read: https://www.newsviews.co.nz/dairy-farm-and-owner-to-pay-215k-for-exploiting-migrant-workers/