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Holiday park hit with record fine for exploiting migrant workers

Holiday park hit with record fine for exploiting migrant workers
December 16, 2019

A North Island holiday park and its owner have been ordered to pay a record fine for exploiting migrant workers.

The staff described working at the Golden Springs Holiday Park in Reporoa as being "like a nightmare" and being trapped in a "prison".

New Zealand Fusion International LTD and its owner Shenshen Guan, which operates the holiday park, has been fined a record $680,350 in penalties and unpaid wage arrears to the three workers.

Commenting on the case, Labour Inspectorate National Manager Stu Lumsden, stated “this judgment sends a strong message that employers who exploit their workers will be put out of business, and charged penalties far in excess of what they may have gained.”

As reported by the New Zealand Herald, two of the three workers had mortgaged a house and withdrew their children's university funds in China to each pay a $45,000 premium ‘bond’ to Guan before coming to New Zealand to work at the park, the Employment Court was told.

They arrived on visitor visas and began working unlawfully under false promises of being paid.

The trio worked at the holiday park doing various jobs seven days a week - for no wages, the court heard.

Guan had changed their employment contracts and then used the fact that they had no working visas as a reason not to pay them.

She also claimed their ‘free’ food and accommodation while staying onsite should also offset any expectation of payment.

The workers referred to their time at the holiday park as being "a nightmare", felt it was like living in a "prison", and one of them said they "wanted to die", the court was told.

Lumsden advised “any worker is lawfully entitled to minimum employment standards

"Any employer who thinks they can flout these laws, especially by being in a rural environment where they think isolating workers is sight unseen, can expect to be heavily penalised."

Fusion was ordered to pay $300,000 in penalties, with Guan ordered personally liable for a further $150,000.

Each of the three workers will receive $100,000 of this total, on top of between $69,000 and nearly $92,000 they are owed in unpaid wages and compensation.

New Zealand Fusion and Guan have also been banned from employing staff for 18 months.

Image shows the Golden Springs Holiday Park in Reporoa.

Related Articles

17th September 2019 - New Zealand holiday parks help drive local economic activity

9th September 2019 - Fair Work Ombudsman reveals audit of stadia cleaning contractors

18th August 2018 - New Zealand holiday parks keen to be involved in camping decisions

23rd July 2018 - Holiday parks key to sustainable tourism growth across New Zealand’s regions

30th May 2018 - Fair Work Ombudsman fines ISS Facility Services for underpaying MCG cleaners

15th June 2017 - Rotorua woman emerges as Holiday Parks star

8th April 2017 - Holiday Parks sector worth over $1 billion to New Zealand’s economy

23rd October 2014 - Football has a key role in migrant adjustment

25th January 2013 - Artists unpaid after Peats Ridge Festival


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