Builder accused of ‘cruel and petty’ tactics
A migrant worker who returned to the Philippines for Christmas was left stranded after his former employer used ‘‘cruel and petty’’ tactics to have his work certificate revoked, First Union says.
The union says Filipino carpenter Joel Matic was unable to return to his job in New Zealand after his former employer, Auckland building firm Renovo Construction, took legal action against him in his home country.
Matic was in the Philippines to visit his wife and son when he learnt he had been charged by Philippine authorities with a breach of New Zealand employment law, despite there being no grounds for dismissal under New Zealand law and the Philippine Government having no jurisdiction over New Zealand employment law, the union said.
As a result, his overseas employment certificate (OEC) was revoked, leaving him stranded when he had been due to return to work last week.
He had since returned to New Zealand but now feared he may not be allowed back to the Philippines.
‘‘If I stayed in the Philippines, I had to pay a lawyer and waste time. I had to come back to New Zealand, I had work, a family [to support].’’
‘‘Now I don’t know how I could go back if there was an emergency. I don’t know if they would stop me at the border.’’
Matic said his former employer hadn’t raised any concerns about his performance while he worked for the company.
‘‘I was unhappy there but I didn’t think they were unhappy with me. When I resigned, he thanked me for my work so I don’t know why this has happened,’’ he said.
‘‘If he had a problem, he could have filed a complaint here . . .
‘‘I couldn’t do anything if it happened in the Philippines.’’
First Union organiser and chairman of Migrante Aotearoa, Mikee Santos, said Renovo appeared to have used the process of ‘‘forum shopping’’, litigating a case in the jurisdiction most likely to provide a favourable judgment to the litigant, as retribution, despite having nothing to gain from any judgment against its former employee.
Collusion with foreign employers to raise false complaints about migrant workers was becoming more commonplace, even where no real employment issues existed in the overseas jurisdiction, he said.
‘‘The [Philippine] Government and manpower agencies like to sell Filipino migrant workers overseas as docile, obedient, and cheap.
‘‘When a New Zealand employer like Renovo makes a complaint ... it’s not hard for the manpower agency to get the worker blacklisted from leaving the country again.’’
Santos said if New Zealand employers had concerns, they should raise them in New Zealand instead of using ‘‘unfair and dubious’’ legal avenues overseas.
Renovo Construction director Shaun O’Mara said he would respond with a written statement on Tuesday addressing the ‘‘false accusations by First Union’’.
Matic came to New Zealand in April 2017, having received his OEC from Filipino manpower agency YWA Human Resource Corporation, which works with the state-run Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to issue the certificates to migrant workers.
He worked for Renovo for almost 18 months before leaving the company due to what Santos claimed was a ‘‘toxic working atmosphere where he was regularly bullied and harassed by his Kiwi employer’’.
In late 2018, he took on another carpentry job in Auckland and had left Renovo without breaching any New Zealand employment law.
Santos, said the company was unhappy when Matic left without it being able to fire and deport him.
‘‘They went after him in the cruellest and pettiest way possible – through his Filipino manpower agency.’’
Union lawyer Oliver Christelle said grievances had been raised with Renovo and YWA, and the union had also taken its complaints to the POEA. There had been no response.
Santos said the union was calling on the New Zealand Government and the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment to intervene.
‘‘Now I don’t know how I could go back if there was an emergency. I don’t know if they would stop me at the border.’’
Filipino carpenter Joel Matic