Pay change under radar
Farmers who employ immigrants with work visas are being warned not to get caught out by a policy change that will have the minimum hourly rate for someone defined as a skilled worker rising to $20.65 per hour.
The new rate, which started on January 15, rose 68 cents per hour from $19.97 and is roughly in line with new minimum wage increases to come in on April 1.
An employee working a 50 hour week now needs to be paid $910 a year more in order to meet the immigration classification as ‘skilled’. The change had slipped past many farmers dealing with dry weather, the election and other challenges, The Regions Immigration Law & Recruitment, managing director Benjamin De’ Ath said.
‘‘We do not have a prospective government change tied to immigration policies and this may be why these fairly significant market wage changes have flown beneath the radar.’’ He said Immigration New Zealand could have better informed employers about the change. There was no information about the change apart from it being on Immigration New Zealand’s website, he said. If employers were unaware, they would get tripped up, particularly if they then applied for a visa for staff.
‘‘The busy farmer and employer may then get a seven-page letter from Immigration New Zealand where in the fourth page buried in a whole bunch of legalise, it will say you are paying your staff $1 per hour too little for them to be qualified as skilled.’’
The change affected workers classified as skilled who occupied mid-management roles on dairy farms. Typically they would be staff with at least three years of experience and hold positions as a herd manager or second-in-charge.
They were now skilled, and may have the right to a three-year visa term, which provided employers and employees a strong degree of certainty and allowed workers to have their families in New Zealand, he said. De’ Ath said he had about 200 workers who fell into this midskilled category as clients.
‘‘The employees may now feel they are now between a rock and a hard place as are their employers who pay more money or risk losing them.’’
The reality was that good employees could walk to another farm owner happy to pay that, he said. He said the worst case scenario was that workers could have their next visa declined. De ‘Ath had three cases where visas were declined because of a technicality and he was now fighting to keep them in the country.
It could also affect employees’ ability to renew visas. They had settled into New Zealand and were part of their local community with their wives working too and children in local schools.
In April the Government will introduce an increase in the minimum hourly rate for any adult employee of 75 cents per hour. This will go from $15.75-$16.50 an hour and over the next three years will increase to $20 per hour.