A Southland dairy farm where workers were being exploited has been fined for obstructing the Employment Relations Authority’s investigations.
Reza Abdul-Jabbar and his company Rural Practice Limited (RPL) had already been ordered to pay out more than $300,000 in penalties and wages owed to three employees.
The Employment Relations Authority (ERA) has now ordered him and his business to pay $15,000 after failing to provide authentic receipts during the investigation.
Abdul-Jabbar, a community and religious leader who acted as a spiritual advisor and mentor for at least one of the Indonesian workers he exploited, was found to have breached minimum employment standards.
He was previously an imam at a mosque in Invercargill.
He and his business did not pay the workers a minimum wage, did not pay for certain holidays and leave appropriately, unlawfully deducted money from wages, forced the workers to pay premiums and did not keep accurate wage and time records, the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) said.
The obstruction arose when the Labour Inspectorate heard Abdul-Jabbar and RPL claim one of his workers owed $5000 for recruitment costs.
It was claimed RPL had paid an agent in Indonesia on the worker’s behalf and that the worker had agreed for the amount to be deducted from his wages.
The worker denied hiring a recruitment agent and said he had not seen the invoice provided by RPL and Abdul-Jabbar until the Labour Inspectorate showed it to him.
The ERA asked for evidence that RPL had paid the invoice. Abdul-Jabbar then showed a photograph of a receipt.
The ERA asked for the original receipt, and Abdul-Jabbar then provided a similar, but different document without any other explanation. The ERA then launched an own-motion inquiry into whether it had been obstructed.
Andrew Dallas, chief of the ERA, said the document “more likely than not ... does not exist”.
Dallas said none of the “reasonably available, and objectively verifiable, corroborative material, has ever been provided”.
He ruled on the obstruction case, and found it had occurred due to “the ongoing failure to provide evidence to corroborate the authenticity of two receipts - both materially but said to be ‘original’.”
The ERA called Abdul-Jabbar and RPL’s obstruction “serious and sustained - not mere inadvertence or negligence”.
Labour Inspectorate head of compliance and enforcement Joanne Hacking said the ERA had already found in a previous determination that Abdul-Jabbar and RPL had tried to mislead or deceive Immigration New Zealand and the inspectorate.
“This case underscores the critical importance of honesty and transparency in proceedings before the ERA, which relies on the integrity of the evidence presented to it,” Hacking said.
“The Labour Inspectorate is pleased the ERA took the matter seriously, conducted a thorough inquiry and took decisive action to uphold the integrity of its processes. This sends a strong and clear message that deliberate attempts to frustrate ERA investigations are not tolerated.”
Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers business, breaking news and local stories from Tāmaki Makaurau. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.
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