Southland dairy farmer who exploited workers cops further fine
A Southland dairy farmer who ripped off his workers has been penalised a further $15,000 for obstructing the employment authority's investigation.
Reza Abdul-Jabbar and his company Rural Practice Ltd was last year fined $215,000 after the Employment Relations Authority found he had breached multiple employment standards.
He was under-paying his three immigrant farm workers and ''invented'' pay records in an attempt to hide it from authorities.
Each employee had two versions of their contract and differing payslips so Immigration New Zealand (INZ) would not detect the underpayments.
Abdul-Jabbar argued no further penalties should be imposed and that he did not have the money to pay a fine.
But the authority said the information about his financial position was "incomplete".
Abdul-Jabbar claimed he owned nothing in his name, despite records showing he was a shareholder in companies that owned $2 million of property.
The Labour Inspectorate said the breaches were "persistent, systemic and deliberate" and the ERA agreed.
During the inspectorate's initial investigation Abdul-Jabbar claimed one of the workers owed $5,000 for recruitment costs paid by RPL to an agent in Indonesia on his behalf, and that the worker had agreed for this amount to be deducted from his wages.
However, he was unable to produce a receipt which led the Employment Relations Authority to determine 'it more likely than not this material does not exist.'
In imposing the $15,000 penalty, the ERA noted: 'The nature of RPL and Mr Abdul-Jabbar's conduct in obstructing the ERA's investigation was serious and sustained.
"The obstruction was not mere inadvertence or negligence.'
Abdul-Jabbar also appeared in the Environment Court at Invercargill last November where he was fined $71,500 on four charges laid under the Resource Management Act.
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