Inspectors’ standards updated

STANDARDS for labour inspectors have been updated after concerns were raised about an investigation into breaches of employment standards at a Dunedin massage parlour.

A recent Employment Relations Authority ruling, which found Elements Therapeutic Massage breached employment standards, also included concerns about the actions of the labour inspector who carried out the investigation.

The ruling said it was concerning the inspector who interviewed the manager and owner of the business did not take full notes at the time, but rather typed up in bullet points after interviews.

The notes were not disclosed to the interviewed parties at the time, contrary to the ‘‘otherwise claimed practise of the labour inspector concerned’’.

The ruling said the inspector was no longer employed by Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

The ruling still found sufficient evidence the owner and manager of the business, which was located in the Meridian Mall, had breached the employment rights of three ‘‘young vulnerable migrant employees’’, in a systematic and premeditated way, including by unjustified dismissal and underpayment, in 2019.

A review of electronic messages by the authority found the manager of the store engaged in ‘‘objectively harassing and inappropriately personal’’ conduct towards one employee. The owner and manager were found liable for a combined $12,000 in penalties, the ruling found.

MBIE Labour Inspectorate regional manager Jeanie Borsboom said the notetaking practice referenced in the ruling happened in 2019 and was not in line with the inspectorate’s standard investigation process at the time, which required inspectors to take contemporaneous notes which were saved and scanned.

Practice standards were updated in 2021 to clarify that interview notes of that type needed to be supplied to interviewees, Ms Borsboom said.

Another similar incident had resulted in a complaint being made in April 2020.

An independent investigation completed in February 2021 found notes had not been supplied to interviewees from an interview with an employer in June 2019, but it was not contrary to written practice standards at the time.

Subsequently, standards were updated to make it clear that interview notes needed to be supplied to interviewees at the earliest opportunity.

Due to privacy rules she would not confirm if the incidents were related to the same investigator or if any disciplinary action had been taken.