Japanese restaurant operator fined for ‘systemic’ law failures
A company whose director allegedly said he disagreed with New Zealand employment law and ran his business ‘‘how it is in Japan’’ has been fined $70,000 for employment breaches.
The Employment Relations Authority (ERA) has penalised Japan Power, which operates the two Samurai Bowl restaurants in Christchurch, for what the Labour Inspectorate called ‘‘systemic’’ breaches of the Holidays Act.
‘‘These were significant breaches of employment standards done by an employer who failed to follow New Zealand law and, as a result, left his employees out of pocket,’’ inspectorate regional manager Jeanie Borsboom said.
An inspectorate investigation revealed the company was paying its employees annual leave, alternative holiday pay and public holiday pay based on the minimum wage rather than their agreed upon rate.
It was also paying out its employees’ annual leave on the anniversary of the date they started work without them receiving time off.
At an investigation meeting in October 2016, two labour inspectors reported one of the company’s two directors, Masakazu Takeuchi, told them he did not agree with New Zealand employment law and ran his business ‘‘how it is in Japan’’.
The company contends the breaches were not intentional and arose from a lack of understanding of the law.
It complied with an improvement notice issued in May 2017 and paid $23,927 in arrears to 25 affected current and former employees.
It also implemented new systems and processes to fix the problem and accepted all the breaches, something that led ERA
He did not agree with New Zealand employment law and ran his business "how it is in Japan".
Labour inspectors
authority member Andrew Dallas to impose reduced penalties.
Among the aggravating factors put forward by the inspectorate in its argument for higher penalties were that Japan Power intentionally breached employment standards and its employees were vulnerable migrant workers.
‘‘The significant penalty awarded in this case should send a clear message that you cannot ignore NZ employment law and that the inspectorate will not let companies off the hook which seek a competitive advantage by shirking their obligations,’’ Borsboom said.
Japan Power was also added to the stand-down list, preventing the company from sponsoring visas for migrant workers for two years.