Accused KFC harasser promoted

Complaints about sexual harassment and falsified wage records went unaddressed by KFC, workers say. Alison Mau reports.

A KFC worker was promoted to store manager while multiple complaints that he sexually harassed workers, doctored their hours and deliberately breached their visa conditions went unresolved, a Sunday Star-Times investigation has found.

Staff at the KFC store in Christchurch say the worker was made general manager despite formal complaints pending from five workers, some of which were lodged five months ago and have not yet been answered. Three more complaints were laid against the same manager this month.

Unite Union, which has 4000 fast food workers among its members, is calling for an independent investigation and for the manager to be suspended while it takes place.

The claims are the latest in an ongoing harassment controversy for KFC’s parent company Restaurant Brands.

In December, a Stuff #metooNZ investigation revealed widespread sexual misconduct, including instances of rape and sexual assault, at Pizza Hut and KFC stores.

The revelations prompted Restaurant Brands to publicly apologise to one victim, and promise an independent review of its harassment policies and practices.

The Star-Times has seen written complaints by eight workers at the Christchurch KFC store that allege widespread and ongoing sexual harassment of young female employees, falsification of wage and time records, wage theft, deliberate breaches of visa conditions of migrant employees, and refusal to allow sick and injured staff to leave work.

Several employees say they approached senior regional and human resources management as far back as August last year and were promised action would be taken. Several were invited to investigation meetings shortly after lodging their complaints, then heard nothing more. Two workers had no response from the company to their complaints.

Three women at the KFC made formal sexual harassment complaints about the staff member, saying he would ‘‘creep up on them’’, deliberately stand uncomfortably close, stare at their breasts or other body parts and often make comments about their bodies or the tightness of their uniforms. Two of the workers were teenagers – one was 16 years old and in her first job.

They claim his behaviour affected many of the younger women employed at the store.

He would order them to sit next to him during their breaks, they said, and message them out of hours – sometimes late at night – with questions about their private lives. One worker said he asked her to send pictures of herself, on multiple occasions.

If they tried to ignore his requests, he would retaliate by withholding extra shifts, the women claimed.

Other employees said he and an assistant manager asked them to work shifts without clocking on, and that they were not fully paid for all the hours they worked.

One complainant said time records had been falsified on her payslip, cheating her out of 35 hours’ pay. This happened more than once, she claimed in an email to an HR manager in August 2019. The woman says she was invited to an investigation meeting, but apart from a text from the HR manager 11 weeks later telling her not to talk about the issue at work, did not get any further updates. She said she did not receive the pay she was owed.

In August and September 2019, complaints from two other employees were sent to a senior area manager, alleging on multiple occasions they were pressured to work more than the 20 hours allowed on their visas.

The complaints said the workers’ clock-in and clock-out

Minister for Workplace Relations records were falsified to hide these breaches, and that they were often promised the missing pay would appear at a later date. It never did, they say.

The staff member complained about would not comment when contacted this week, and Restaurant Brands also refused to answer questions about the complaints.

In a statement, the company said it was committed to conducting a thorough investigation following any formal complaint ‘‘within appropriate timeframes’’.

‘‘We remain committed to providing a safe working environment for all our employees. To ensure this, we are undertaking an external review into all our policies, procedures and practises with respect to workplace harassment to ensure they are best practice.’’

Minister for Workplace Relations, Iain Lees-Galloway, said exploitation and harassment of workers was not acceptable.

‘‘Every business must keep their workplace free from harassment, and have a proper, fair and respectful process to address harassment if allegations are made. Businesses have legal responsibilities to keep their workplaces healthy and safe, but they also benefit when their staff feel safe, valued and respected,’’ he said.

In December the Star-Times revealed a teenage worker in her first job at Pizza Hut was raped three times by her manager while they were setting up the store for the day’s trading. The rapist, Dilbagh ‘‘Sonny’’ Singh, was convicted and jailed for nine years and six months, in November.

Restaurant Brands publicly apologised to the woman, and promise to launch an independent review of harassment policies and practices. New Zealand managing director Arif Khan also offered to apologise to the woman in person.

She rejected the offer, saying she did not believe the company’s offer was genuine as it had only come as a result of media attention. She said she would press ahead with a formal complaint to the Human Rights Commission.

A week later, results of a survey by Unite Union showed half of the 168 Restaurant Brands workers who responded said they had been sexually harassed at work, or had witnessed fellow workers being sexually harassed.

The Labour-led Government says it’s closing in on employers and managers who exploit their workers.

A 2017 MBIE report identified 23 franchised Pizza Hut outlets it suspected were at ‘‘high risk of labour and immigration related offending’’ like wage theft and breaches of visa conditions.

New Zealand employment law allows managers and directors, as well as business owners, to be fined up to $50,000 if found guilty of breaching the law. They may also be liable for compensation to employees who have lost wages.

Minister for Immigration and Employment Relations, Iain Lees-Galloway said ‘‘stronger measures’’ as part of the Temporary Migrant Worker Exploitation Review would be announced later this year. An action plan to tackle human trafficking was also being ‘‘refreshed’’.’

In September 2018, Nelson franchisee Davinder Singh was sentenced to nine months’ home detention, 200 hours of community service and ordered to pay $150,000 in victim reparation for exploiting his workers at Pizza Hut stores he owned in Gore, Richmond, Nelson and Blenheim.

Singh pleaded guilty to 25 charges relating to ‘‘calculating’’ and ‘‘systematic and protracted’’ offending which took place over five years.

That same month, a Hastings Pizza Hut franchisee was convicted and fined $1500 for illegally employing a worker and breaching his visa conditions.

‘‘Every business must keep their workplace free from harassment, and have a proper, fair and respectful process to address harassment if allegations are made.’’ Iain Lees-Galloway

Rape Crisis

0800 842 846 (24hr service)

The Harbour,

online support and information for those affected by harmful sexual behaviour at www.theharbour. org.nz

Women’s Refuge

For women and children, 0800 733 843

Safe to talk

0800 044 334, text 4334 or web chat

Male Survivors Aotearoa

(For men) – follow link at malesurvivor.nz for regional helplines

If you or someone else is in immediate danger call 111.