In the first two photos he is either not wearing a mask, or has the mask pulled down. His mouth is also open.
Social media users have been quick to condemn the man's actions, saying his behaviour was "disgusting".
Another person said the man was "clearly breaching their privacy for his own entertainment".
Awanui Rest Home provides dementia care services.
Manager Sharyn Gray was not willing to comment on the behaviour of the staff member involved, but confirmed an investigation had been launched and that there was a timeline for when that would conclude. She would not say when that was.
She found out about the photos yesterday.
Gray would not say anything further or confirm what role the employee had in the rest home.
"We have done what we can do at this point until investigations are complete."
A woman who received the photos over Snapchat and shared them to Facebook in a bid to make his management team aware of his behaviour said she did not know the man, but was friends with him on Snapchat.
"I just wanted people to be aware of what was happening behind closed doors to those poor people in his hands," she told the Herald.
"I thought if I shared it his management team would be more aware of the person he was and let him go."
At the time she didn't realise the photos were tagged with the name of the rest home.
She said the man later contacted her on Facebook asking her to remove the post.
"Hey, the management team has called me several times telling me they will take further action on both me and yourself if all the pictures and posts [aren't taken down], so please help me out here," he wrote.
The Herald has approached the man for comment.
In the woman's Facebook post, she said she thought he was trying to be a "funny guy", but the behaviour was "not okay".
"He may not be able to comply with the two metre distancing rule as he has to assist them, but as you can see he is wearing no mask in the pics around them," she wrote.
"This is somebody's loved ones this is happening to, and I hope their families see this and can use this to get justice.
"Nobody deserves this kind of treatment."
